Over the past decade there have been numerous initiatives at the local, state and national level to improve the nation's graduation rate, particularly among historically underserved student populations. It appear that groundswell is building into momentum on several fronts, and the next step - for educators, policymakers, community groups, families, and the students themselves - will be to sustain it. One issue that will need consideration: How to find the resources for the personalized, intensive, wraparound services and support to help students at risk of dropping out.

From the Ed Week report:

"I'd like to think [attention to dropouts] comes from a surge of academic conscience, but every student that drops out is a capital loss ... and every one brought back is a reclaimed revenue source," says Larry M. Perondi, the superintendent of the 20,300-student unified school district in Oceanside, Calif. "It's real easy to not think about these kids because they're not the easiest population to work with, but there are so many of them, ... and, man, there are some really bright kids who have dropped out of school."

Expect the Ed Week data to will yield stories from individual states; there should be plenty of attention on Tennessee's education reform efforts which seem to be bearing fruit. On the flipside, there also ought to be a spotlight on what Ed Week calls the "epicenters of the graduation crisis" - the 25 school systems accounting for 18 percent of the dropouts. Not surprisingly the nation's first and second largest school districts (New York City and Los Angeles) lead the pack. "Dropout factories" will likely return to the top of the education buzzword list.

It will also be interesting if the data work their way into the ongoing conversation about the new Common Core State Standards, which have faced a barrage of criticism in recent weeks. How might the roll-out of the new academic expectations, including the new assessments that come with them, affect graduation rates in coming years? Could short-term bumps in the road during the implementation make it harder to hold on to students already struggling? Or is there a potential long-term payoff on the horizon? Might the higher expectations of the common core increase the value of a high school diploma, and a student's chances of being college and career-ready when they earn one?

"I think you can spin different scenarios where the common core could negatively impact graduation rates," Swanson told me Wednesday. "But there are separate story lines that could play out related to the standards themselves versus the assessments versus how the assessments might be used for accountability purposes at the individual level - such as a student's promotion or graduation. How states might decide to use those assessments for those purposes is in their court. We'll have to wait and see."

This post also appears at The Educated Reporter, an Atlantic partner site.