Prepared by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center and titled Cities in Crisis 2009: Closing the Graduation Gap , the report also revealed that a number of large cities, such as Philadelphia, Tucson, Kansas City, El Paso, Portland, and New York, increased graduation rates between 1995 and 2005. Still, among the top 50 cities, the combined rate is well below the national average of 71 percent.

Additional information in the report includes city-by-city graduation statistics; the economic and employment picture for students with varying educational levels, as well as their earning potential; the effect high school dropouts have on the nation as a whole; and the impact of America's Promise Alliance Dropout Prevention campaign to date.

Cities in Crisis 2009 was funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and sources include school district data from the U.S. Department of Education's Common Core of Data (2004-05). The country's 50 largest cities were identified using 2006 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and economic and employment conditions were gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 American Community Survey. For more information, visit www.americaspromise.org and www.mentoring.org .

- Information courtesy of MENTOR