Today, the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction released the “Dropout Data Report” for the 2006-2007 school year.

According to the dropout report,

High schools in North Carolina reported 23,550 dropout events in 2006-2007. The grade 9-12 dropout event rate in 2006-2007 was 5.24%, an increase from the 5.04% rate reported for 2005-2006. … The 23,550 dropout events recorded in grades 9-12 represented a 6.2% increase from the count of 22,180 reported in 2005-2006.

There was a nearly 46 percent increase in the number of dropouts in Mecklenburg County. Here are the details for CMS:

2005-2006 count: 1724
2006-2007 count: 2512
Percentage change: 45.7
2005-2006 rate: 4.61
2006-2007 rate: 6.39

There was a nearly 15 percent increase in the number of dropouts in Wake County. Here are the details for WCPSS:

2005-2006 count: 1437
2006-2007 count: 1647
Percentage change: 14.6
2005-2006 rate: 3.88
2006-2007 rate: 4.21

The report can be accessed here.