By most measures, Vermont has one of the lowest high school drop-out rates in the country. In some schools nearly 100% graduate within four years. But at other schools in the state there are significant numbers of students who don’t make it through the system in four years. As many as 36% drop out. And many of them never graduate. This is particularly true in schools with high poverty levels.
Andre Messier is Principal at Lake Region Union High School in Orleans. Rae Ann Knopf is Deputy Commissioner at the Vermont Department of Education. They talk with VPR’s Jane Lindholm about how the state plans to reach its goal of a statewide 100% graduation rate by 2020.