9th grade essential for graduation

In a report last month, WBEZ’s Becky Vevea and the Better Government Association’s Sarah Karp reported on how Chicago Public Schools was incorrectly touting higher graduation rates. The district was counting drop-outs as transfer students or as students who had moved out of the district. After that story, CPS said it was making moves to remedy the issue. So while CPS acknowledges there are problems to confront in how they record grad rates, there is research that indicates what the District could be doing to keep students on track-get them through their freshman year, which is the toughest year for lots of kids. Chicago Sun-Times Deputy editorial page editor Kate Grossman talks more about why that year is so crucial...