New Dropout Data Highlight Problems In the Middle Years.

The article reports on the data from Chicago, Illinois and New York City which found that middle-grade students are more likely to dropout than previously thought. Researchers from Loyola University in Chicago observed that 5.5 percent of the district's eighth-grade students have dropped out before going high school. Meanwhile in New York City, a study showed that 40 percent of students getting into high schools were at least a year behind in their studies.