Someone else has figured the high school dropout rate business out

"Clearly no one wants to talk about this, but in Kentucky's current assessment and accountability system schools actually benefit from young people dropping out rather than having them perform at a low rate on the tests," he said. "No one wants to admit that's a problem, but it is a problem."

Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates

Quoted in “Kentucky slips in six key areas,” Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, June 12, 2008 as provided by Kentucky School Boards Association News Service (subscription required).

When Kentucky's CATS assessment starts to really penalize schools for dropouts (right now, the penalty is trivial), maybe this will stop. By the way, Mr. Brooks, I have criticized this problem in CATS for years. Glad you are now on board on this important issue.