Cloudt said TEA found 90.7 percent of students who were seniors in 1997-98 and freshmen three years earlier completed school, although that doesn't mean they all received a high school diploma. Accounting for students since the seventh grade, she said, the state determined their six-year dropout rate was 14.7 percent that same year. While the state has focused extensively on raising standardized test scores, it appears its new preoccupation quickly is becoming dropouts - at least how to track them. Last month, State Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander announced her office would investigate how districts report dropouts. Treisman said while he hopes for better data collection, ultimately the focus should shift to how to save the faces that are masked by the numbers.
Some people see conspiracy everywhere.
Now let's work on it.