Some transitions are more difficult than others, and one of the most difficult is for young people making the move from middle school to high school. That's why the Highlands County School District's Freshman Foundation is such a good idea. We believe that ultimately it will succeed in helping students be more successful. ...more

February 4, 2009

School administrators and the district's professional and technical staff will likely receive a modest cost of living raise this year. ...more

January 21, 2009

With graduation looming, officials are hoping efforts to boost high school graduation rates will pay off in the numbers. ...more

May 22, 2008

Nearly four decades after this rural Georgia county stopped segregating its schools by race, it wants to divide students again - this time by sex. ...more

February 26, 2008

Years ago, when I was looking to buy home here, I noticed something about Plant High School that stood out in the Tribune's real estate section: Sellers would list the fact that the house they had on the market was in Plant's district. ...more

February 3, 2008

The Tampa Tribune's recent editorial "Dropout Rate Might Improve If Schools Measured It Precisely" (Our Opinion, Nov. 28), which discusses Florida dropout and graduation rates, uses a flawed report from Johns Hopkins University as the basis for many of its claims. ...more

December 5, 2007

Hillsborough County schools' graduation rate increased nearly 2 percentage points in 2006-07 over the previous school year with a slight improvement in the dropout rate, the state reported Friday. ...more

December 1, 2007

SEBRING — Florida ranked second in the nation with 51.1 percent of its public high schools showing excessive dropout rates, but no schools in Highlands or surrounding counties made the list of "Dropout Factories." The state's public high schools have some of the worst student retention rates in the country, with half qualifying as "Dropout Factories," four times the national average, according to a new analysis of U.S. Education Department data conducted by Johns Hopkins University. The term dropout factory, coined by Hopkins researcher Bob Balfanz, describes schools where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. ...more

November 3, 2007

MIAMI - Florida's public high schools have some of the worst student retention rates in the country, with half qualifying as "Dropout Factories," four times the national average, according to a new analysis of U.S. Education Department data. Among the local schools on the list were Bloomingdale, Chamberlain, Plant City, Leto and East Bay. Dropout Rate Map: Is Your School On The List? ...more

October 31, 2007

The man chosen to strengthen Florida's complex education system and tackle its toughest problems has been praised nationally for increasing student achievement and lowering dropout rates. ...more

October 9, 2007