A drop-out problem.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS

Only two-in-three high school students graduate, according to The Alliance for Excellent Education. And half of the nation--s dropouts come from just 12 percent (or 2,000) of the country's high schools.

According the alliance's latest report, "Prioritizing the Nation's Lowest-Performing High Schools," within these lowest-performing high schools (sometimes known as dropout factories), only 60 percent or fewer freshmen progress all the way to their senior year three years later.

"The lowest-performing high schools are located in every state; in urban, suburban, rural, and small-town America; in large high schools and small. Their one unifying characteristic is that they disproportionately serve our nation's poor and minority students," the report says.

A NATIONAL ISSUE Percentage of Percentage of High Schools High School Considered Students Attending Lowest-Performing a Lowest-Performing High School Alabama 11% 11% Alaska 20% 11% Arizona 13% 12% Arkansas 4% 5% California 14% 16% Colorado 10% 9% Connecticut 6% 7% Delaware 35% 39% District of Columbia 19% 23% Florida 35% 36% Georgia 34% 32% Hawaii...