As always with DISD, it seems like good news has to be qualified.
So when it’s announced that DISD’s graduation rate posted the seventh-highest 10-year gain of any big-city district in the country, according to a DMN story, that sounds like great progress. But when it’s noted that even after the boost, DISD’s graduation rate is just 50.8 percent, it’s pretty sobering.
To his credit, Supt. Michael Hinojosa isn’t doing what my wife calls the "Snoopy dance" of delirious pride; instead, he’s taking the information for what it’s worth.
"While these indicators show Dallas is moving in the right direction," Hinojosa told the DMN, "there is still a very long way to go to reach success."
It’s interesting that the chart accompanying the story shows graduation rates for about 30 major urban markets, and the highest graduation rate for any of these cities is 71.6 percent in Tucson — that’s not a number to be extremely proud of, either. But the fact remains that, despite all of the misgivings many people (including me) have had about DISD, progress continues to be made and just about everything is moving — albeit slowly — in the right direction.