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Tribal advocates keep up legal pressure for fair political maps; 12-member jury sworn in for Trump's historic criminal trial; Healthcare decision planning important for CT residents; Debt dilemma poll: Hoosiers wrestle with college costs.

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Civil Rights activists say a court ruling could end the right to protest in three southern states, a federal judge lets January 6th lawsuits proceed against former President Trump and police arrest dozens at a Columbia University Gaza protest.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Report: High School Grad Rate Stagnant in Illinois

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author Mary Kuhlman, Managing Editor

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Tuesday, May 26, 2015   

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - It's graduation season, but approximately one-in-five Illinois high school seniors is not donning a cap and gown. According to the 2015 Building a Grad Nation report, while Illinois' high school graduation rate of 83 percent is slightly higher than the national average, the rate has been stagnant for several years.

Co-author of the report Robert Balfanz says another concern is the opportunity gap.

"That's part of why it's a challenge," says Balfanz. "In many neighborhoods in Illinois everybody graduates so it's not seen as a state issue. But in another set of neighborhoods a lot of kids don't graduate. So somehow the state has to get together and recognize that it's important for all their kids to graduate."

The report found in Illinois, about 90 percent of middle and high-income students graduate, compared to only 73 percent of low income youth. To increase the overall graduation rate, the report recommends states expand the use of early-warning systems that can indicate a child needs intervention and make state funding more equitable so low-income and affluent students have the same opportunities.

Balfanz says increasing the number of high school graduates is critical for both the students' future and the success of Illinois.

"If we keep having communities where 20, 30, 40 percent of the kids aren't graduating from high school it's going to be very hard for the community to continue to succeed as a community," he says. "Because if there's no work it's hard to be a successful adult."

According to the report, for the third year in a row, the country remains on pace to achieve the national goal of a 90 percent on-time high school graduation rate by 2020.


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