Less than Half of Students in Oklahoma City Graduate

A new report from America's Promise documents the graduation rates of our 50 largest cities and compares that rate with the graduation rates in the suburbs that surround them. The graduation rates for inner city schools is much lower than expected. The gap between the graduation rates for inner city schools compared to the rate for suburban schools is larger than expected. Here's a link to the full report (16p pdf.)

Only 47.5% of the students entering Oklahoma City schools graduate from High School. 81.2% of the students entering schools in the suburbs around Oklahoma City graduate from High School. This is the ninth largest performance gap in the country.

Here's a link to another article that has some bearing on our poor performance. The state of Oklahoma ranks 47th in the nation on spending per student. Oklahoma allocates $6,961 per student per year. The national average is $9,138.

Given our poor educational performance, perhaps it should come as no surprise to find that Oklahoma County "locks up people at a higher rate than all but eight counties in the United States."