UPDATE: LANSING - Recent data, released by the Center for Education Performance and Information, shows that the drop out rates for high school students across Michigan have one again increased. According to Beth Berglin, Policy and Outreach Associate for Michigan's Children, several factors may be affecting students' abilities to graduate, "You could have a personal factor like a health issue or a family issue that impacts the amount of time you spend in school, which leads to reduced credit."

Jeffrey Thoenes, principal of Williamston High School, agrees, "Some students stumble and fall a little bit. Socially, emotionally, psychologically, aren't quite ready for high school. They start out, and they don't do well and get behind in credits and they never catch up." He also believes that recent curriculum curriculum changes may be another major factor, " Prior to Governor Granholm coming in and unifying graduation standards, each district controlled it's own standards. In other words, you might have a district like Williamston that had only two credits of math for graduation, and now it's four."

To Beth Berglin, a different look at the data also raised hope,"When you add students who graduated within five years, there's an additional nineteen thousand students who graduated. So we're now including that fifth year cohort, which has increased the graduation rate across the state."

Experts agree that parents and communities getting involved by supporting students, schools, and school funding is the greatest way to help reduce these drop out rates.

ORIGINAL STORY: LANSING - A quarter of high school students in Mighigan do not graduate after four years of high school. Watch Meridian Magazine starting to hear more about this problem.