#1 On The Rise

Rhode island’s high school graduation rates continue to rise. That is good news. The state now boasts a rate of 85 percent, up from 77 percent in 2011 and some schools and districts have seen double digit gains in recent years. While we didn’t see any drops based on race or gender, we did see a concerning drop with students on IEPs.

Here are some of the highlights at the school level:

You can read the full report here.

 

#2 A Nod from Moody’s

And in other news, Governor Raimondo’s already controversial free college proposal got a nod from Moody’s. Rick Seltzer at Inside Higher Ed includes Rhode Island specifically in his piece about Moody’s take on free college proposals.

Free college tuition proposals will be moderately credit positive for the overall higher education sector, Moody’s Investors Service said Friday in a report issued after New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee and San Francisco have recently introduced new or expanded proposals.

Proposals for free public college tuition tend to be relatively cost-effective ways for governments to support higher education access and affordability goals because they are usually structured as last-dollar programs that exhaust other sources of financial aid before drawing on new state subsidies, Moody’s said. Consequently, the ratings agency expects the trend toward free college to continue.

To read the full piece, click here.

To read a thorough break down of the Governor’s free college plan, Dan McGowan of WPRI has a good one here.

#Just for fun

And in my own news today, by 6 am this morning my puppy had already thrown up. Perhaps she’ll decide to stop eating grass. 

 

Have a great one everyone!