Austin, TX— This week, Eastside Memorial High School students will be pledging to graduate while learning how their future can be shaped by earning a high school diploma.

Who: Eastside Memorial High School students

When: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19

Where: Eastside Memorial High School, gymnasium, 1012 Arthur Stiles Road

Background: The national high school graduation rate is 75 percent. Currently, one in four students drops out before finishing high school, adding up to more than one million students per year. That means one student drops out every 26 seconds.

In AISD, graduation rates have steadily increased from 74.3 percent in 2008 to 80 percent in 2011.

The Texas Education Agency has not issued a graduation rate for Eastside Memorial High School because the Class of 2012 will be the school’s first graduating class to be assigned an official rate. TEA will release the Class of 2012 graduation rates in August. The school’s goal is to achieve a 78 percent graduation rate.

State Farm Insurance will roll in a customized school bus, which features a presentation that emphasizes the outcomes of students’ educational choices. The Choice Bus will visit Fulmore Middle School Wednesday, Feb. 20, and Kealing Middle School Friday, Feb. 22. In addition, students at Crockett, Lanier, LBJ, and Reagan high schools are participating in the program by taking the pledge.

Correction: The Feb. 19 media advisory, “Eastside Memorial Students Please to Increase Graduation Rates,” incorrectly reported the school’s graduation rate was 78 percent in 2011. The school’s goal is to achieve a 78 percent graduation rate, when TEA releases its Class of 2012 data. See corrected information (above).