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Forecast: One Dropout Every 27 Seconds

Whatever way you do the math, dropping out of high school is a bad idea.

This past year, statistics released by the federal government this week show that more students are graduating high school. The 2011 edition of Education Week's Diplomas Count finds that the national high school graduation rate stands at 71.7 percent for the class of 2008, the most recent data available.

This is the highest rate since the 1980s, and an increase after two consecutive years of decline. However, the report also projects 1.2 million students from this year's high school class will fail to graduate -- 6,400 students lost each day of the year, or one student every 27 seconds.

Content provided by Eastern Michigan University.

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