In a new report from the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University, researchers praise North Carolina for posting a 3.6 percent increase in the statewide graduation rate, but they caution,
This progress, however, must be tempered with the acknowledgement that except for Kentucky all of these states [Tennessee, Alabama, New York and North Carolina] still have overall graduation rates below the national average.
The report does not explain how these states increased their graduation rate, but they suggest that Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) awards may have had a role.
