Southern high school dropout rates higher

A new Harvard report examines graduation rates in five Southern states -- Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Mississippi -- and finds rates are lower in the South than nationally. Additionally while about 75 percent of white students graduate, only about half of minority students graduate, according to "Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis in the South."

From the executive summary:

"This crisis is particularly acute in Southern states, which have some of the lowest overall graduation rates in the country. The South is a critical region to examine because it has a very large and rapidly growing population and has always been home to a majority of African Americans. In addition, several southern states are now in the epicenter of a huge Latino migration. The region also has a history of racial inequality including unlawful school segregation. As pointed out in this report, two independent studies show a high correlation between racially and socio-economically segregated schools and very low graduation rates. Not surprisingly, the research shows that poor, racially isolated Whites have low graduation rates that are nearly identical to poor, racially isolated Blacks. Nationally, few predominantly White schools have concentrated poverty, but there are significant numbers of these in parts of the rural South."

Click here for the full report.