Graduating ASAP, if Not on State Timeline
by Theresa Vargas
An hour and a half after his night shift ended at the grocery store, Jefferson Lara is sitting in art class, sketching warriors. Lara's education has never been neatly laid out in class schedules that flow into extracurricular activities. It mattered little to him that he wouldn't graduate with his peers in June -- he still would get his diploma. As the nation moves toward adopting a common graduation rate formula based on the number of students who obtain a diploma in four years, there are students such as Lara who will appear to have been failed by their school systems. They will not be counted as graduating on time. But what should be taken into account, educators say, is that many are succeeding -- just not on the traditional timeline.
The Washington Post, 11/11/2008