Looking up

School systems draw plenty of criticism when they're not doing as well as they should, and rightfully so. Without criticism, they have no incentive to improve. Yet they also deserve applause when they do things right. Warranted praise builds morale, and encourages schools to do even better.

One area of improvement in recent years for Richmond County schools has been the graduation rate. Three years ago, Richmond County was No. 76 in the state, with a high-school graduation rate of 58.7 percent; last year it was No. 60, with a graduation rate of 62.2 percent.

That's an impressive improvement. Hopefully, those statistics will continue to move in the right direction. Higher graduation rates also indicate fewer dropouts. Richmond County's absenteeism rate went from 15.3 percent in 2003. which was 82nd in the state, to 11.1 percent in 2004, or 54th in state.

These figures aren't as good as Columbia County's school system - but that's no surprise, given the two counties' demographic differences.

The statistics were compiled by Georgia Kids Count, which is part of a national, nonprofit organization that tracks the status of children in the United States. The report included data on children's health, school readiness, school successes, strength of families and family incomes. When all this data is boiled down, poverty turns out to be the main cause of absenteeism and low graduation rates. And overcoming the negative impact of poverty is the main challenge of all public school systems, not just Richmond County's.

Georgia's new policy of bringing the community, courts and school system together to bear on attendance problems also should start playing a role in further reducing absenteeism and improving graduation rates. Keeping kids in high school and encouraging them to graduate is about the best thing adult institutions can do for young people today.