Ohio's public schools are losing about half their African American and Hispanic students before they graduate from high school

Only 47.5% of Ohio's black public school seniors graduated on time in 2007. The national average graduation rate for African American students is 53.7%. In Ohio, only 46.4% of Hispanic students graduate. National graduation rates for Hispanic students averaged 55.5%. White, non-Hispanic students' graduation rates averaged 76.6% and Asian students averaged 80.7% nationwide. Overall, black and Latino pupil populations are expected to grow and graduation gaps with whites could widen.