Dropouts drop off.

• Position: Statewide - Statistical table - Brief article

Maybe it's because of efforts to keep kids in school. Maybe it's the appalling paucity of paying alternatives--especially for the unschooled and unskilled. Whatever the reason, North Carolina's dropout rate has been falling. In 2008-09, just 4.27% of those enrolled in grades nine through 12 quit school. That's down a full percentage point from two years earlier and the lowest rate since the state began collecting comparable numbers in the early 1990s. Education officials point to programs aimed at preventing dropouts, including positive reinforcement in the early grades and special academies for at-risk students in the ninth grade, the group most likely to bolt. But they don't discount the discouraging words students might hear from those in the job market. Extra time in school can only boost the state's...