S e c o n d e d I t I o n 1 Reading for the Real World 1

Here are six words that are related to the topic but are not in the reading. 
Fill in each blank with the best word from the list. Use each word only 
once.
enact pedagogy administration credit fosters tuition
1.
The University’s decision to raise __________ made many students angry 
because they feel the cost of attendance is already too high.
2.
Assistant principals aid the principals with the overall __________ of the school.
3.
Because he was always absent for class, the teacher decided to fail him. So, he did 
not receive __________ for the class.
4.
The government should __________ a law that gives more money to schools.
5.
Every teacher has a(n) __________, or style of teaching, that they follow when 
instructing in the classroom.
6.
The classroom should be an environment that __________ learning.
Fill in the blanks in the table with the sentences below according to the 
category they belong to. Use each sentence only once.
1.
Businesses and philanthropic organizations are funding campaigns to increase 
graduation rates.
2.
High school dropouts put a strain on the economy.
3.
Volunteers go to dropouts’ homes to try and convince them to go back to school.
4.
Recent studies state that barely half of the students in the fifty largest cities in the 
United States graduate from high school.
5.
High school dropouts also hurt their chance of getting a good job.
6.
Promise Alliance is giving money to several states for them to develop their own 
plans to decrease the number of high school dropouts.
High School Dropouts
Problems 
Solutions

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upplemental Reading
O 
ne popular saying in America is that “there are lies, damn lies, and 
statistics.” This means that statistics are often deceiving. Statistical 
numbers reveal facts that appear to be true but, in reality, mask a 
truth that is much more complicated.
Many researchers think this is the case with 
dropout statistics. National high school dropout 
rates are difficult to accurately determine for 
several reasons. First, each state records dropouts 
differently. There is no national standard for what 
the term “dropout” means. Some students “drop 
out” of one school after their freshman year and then go to another school to 
finish their high school career. Others do not finish high school but later take a 
special test and receive a General Education Diploma, or GED, which is equivalent 
to a high school diploma.
Statistical discrepancies can cause confusion. For example, several studies 
have recently claimed that the US high school dropout rate is about 25 percent. 
But the National Center for Education Statistics showed the US dropout rate at 
14 percent. How can the statistics be so different? Which ones are more correct? 
The answers are not clear, and researchers add to the confusion by arguing 
among themselves.
The validity of statistics depends on how they are calculated. Statistics often 
don’t reflect different factors in determining the statistics. They give us a picture 
of a situation, but the picture is not always accurate.