Question: Dropouts. Some people are concerned that new tougher standards and high-stakes tests adopted in many states have driven up the high school dropout rate. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that the high school dropout rate for the year 2004 was 10.3%. One school district whose dropout rate has always been very close to the national average reports that 210 of their 1782 high school students dropped out last year. Is this evidence that their dropout rate may be increasing? Explain.