I talked in January about evidence that Kentucky’s rather large high school graduation rates are possibly due at least in part to social promotion of students who really shouldn’t be getting a diploma.

Now, more evidence of graduation pumping comes from the Washington Post’s Jay Mathews in “Mom wanted her daughter to flunk, but the school wouldn’t back her up.”

Among other things, Mathews writes:

“I complained recently about D.C. schools’ giving D’s for no work to get as many uncooperative students as possible graduated so the schools wouldn’t have to deal with them anymore. I should have noted this also is a problem in some of our most affluent and well-regarded suburban schools, as the Fairfax parent’s experience makes clear.”

So, evidence of graduation rate problems I point to in Kentucky may be more universal than you think, and even well-to-do schools could be playing this game.