Some urban schools are underperforming even by the low standards set in our cities. These have extremely high dropout rates and have been nicknamed "Dropout Factories." In 2005, researchers at John Hopkins took a good look at these schools. Their findings include:

• Only about 20% of high school students in the United States are likely to attend high schools with exemplary graduation rates (90% or higher).
• Another 20% of high school students in the United States are likely to attend high schools with very low graduation rates (60% or lower). These are the high schools that produce close to half of the nation’s dropouts.
• Nearly 90% of high schools with very low graduation rates educate large numbers of low-income students. However, only about one-quarter of these schools currently receives Title 1 funds.
• The nation’s minority students are four times more likely to attend a high school with very low graduation rates and three times less likely to attend a high school with very high graduation rates than the nation’s non-minority students.
• The largest number of high schools with very low graduation rates is located in the nation’s cities (around 900), but there are also close to 800 high schools in towns and rural areas with very low graduation rates.
• High schools with very low graduation rates come in all sizes-there are more than 250 small high schools (less then 300 students) and 300 large high schools (more than 2,000 students) with very low graduation rates.