Giving Compass' Take:

· In an effort to support their alumni, charter schools are now tracking the number of students who go on to complete college. The 74 explains that charter school students graduate from college at roughly 3 to 5 times the national average because they continue to receive support from their schools long after they leave the campus.

· What advantages come from attending charter schools? 

· Here is some more information about charter school students graduating from college.

Last July, The 74 partnered with journalist Richard Whitmire in launching The Alumni — a special multimedia project that surveyed new efforts underway at America’s largest charter school networks to guide students and alumni both to and through college.

Featuring interviews with network leaders, support staff, graduates, and current students, it was a first attempt to capture these schools’ campaigns to raise the bar in how they define success, as well as their focus on providing additional support for teens long after they have left campus.

Whereas many districts focus primarily on high school graduation rates, there is now a commitment among many charter leaders to look beyond that first diploma and to focus more attention on measures of college persistence and completion.

In other words, they began to more closely track what percentage of their student body goes on to complete college within six years.

Read the full article about tracking and supporting alumni by Steve Snyder at The 74.