Amid a surge in community college attendance, almost 40 percent of the nation’s 18- to 24-year-olds in 2008 were enrolled in college, a record number, according to the Pew Research Center.

The percentage of high school dropouts, meanwhile, has been declining. In October 2008, 9.3 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds had dropped out of school, compared with 10.2 percent in 2007.

The New York Times quoted Richard Fry, a senior senior Pew research associate, as saying, “The high school completion numbers are somewhat startling, since they fly in the face of the very negative impression people have gotten about dropouts.” Read the report.

Filed under: K-12 Education News