Laurels to the Rowan-Salisbury School System for bringing up state test scores in math in 2007-08. Eighty-two percent of the schools met or exceeded state standards in math, with 19 showing high academic growth, nine showing expected growth and only six not meeting standards for improvement. This is a big step forward from last year, when 12 schools did not meet standards. How ironic (and unfair) that just when schools appear to be showing the most progress, the General Assembly cuts funds for bonuses. The state needs to review that bonus system. Reading scores are yet to come. This week's report is preliminary; the state will release all the details in November. In the meantime, this is a feather in the cap of everyone involved in the schools, from students to teachers to the superintendent. Math teachers in particular can strut for a while. Congratulations.

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Dart, however, to virtually every county's struggle to make significant gains in graduation rates. A couple of Rowan-Salisbury high schools — East Rowan and Salisbury — showed progress in this area. East Rowan and Carson can even boast rates above the 80 percent standard of No Child Left Behind. Laurels to them. But systemwide the rate fell from 70.3 percent in 2007 to 67 percent this year. Rowan-Salisbury is hovering around the state average, which improved slightly from 69.5 percent to 69.9 percent. Other area systems whose rate fell include Cabarrus, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cleveland County and Davidson County. Improving the dropout rate is much tougher than raising test scores. The rate is the accumulation of students' entire academic experience. Many start dropping out mentally before they even reach high school, and not enough have a strong family urging them on. Turning that around statewide and locally will take many years.

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Laurels to Congress' realization that a generation of college students is graduating in deep debt — not from college loans, but from credit cards they should not have qualified for in the first place. Some companies start inundating college students with credit-card offers the minute they step on campus, if not before, with few questions asked. The companies must think, "Hey, they're in college; that makes them prosperous enough." Not so. When students get in over their heads, they learn hard lessons about late fees and stiff interest rates. Both houses of Congress have seen a flurry of bills to rein in how those companies do business, including one that would make it harder for college students to qualify for credit cards. It should also require the companies to do credit checks; many seem not to. Young people do need to establish credit, and many of them can handle credit cards responsibly. But they should not be able to get $1,000 lines of credit from five or six different companies. Tighten up.

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