Roanoke’s graduation rate climbs, lifting all students equally. City schools have made great progress not just in narrowing, but in closing, the achievement gap.

Public schools rely on a number of measuring sticks to determine if students are making adequate progress. Educators, policy makers, parents and taxpayers can advance genuine and interesting arguments as to the merit and preference of particular tests, benchmarks and philosophies and how they should be used. But in the end, one benchmark matters the most: a diploma.

For children to enjoy adulthood as productive and engaged citizens — the goal of public education being to support a prosperous society — they must, at a minimum, graduate from high school. Encouragingly, this goal is being achieved more often, and on time, in Virginia.

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