but let me also say what a gift it's been to the nation to have marguerite kondracki at the helm of america'sromise alliance. i'd love her to stand and be acknowledged by everybody. [ applause ] and she's not going anywhere. also what a gift it will be to have john gomperts. i'd love him to stand as well so everybody knows who he is. [ applause ] and to randall stephenson of at&t for their extraordinary work on so many fronts to help boost high school graduation rates, support annual updates to the nation and make education a stronger data driven enterprise through the aspire 1 and now 2 programs. this morning we had the pleasure to release the 2012 update to the nation on our progress and challenge in ending the high school dropout epidemic. after years of bloomy news on the dropout challenge we released two reports over the last 18 months that showed over the last decade increases in high school graduation rates across dozens of states. reductions in the number of dropout factory high schools and the students attending them. and deeper evidence that states and school districts are boosting