jared bernstein,joe antos and max ritchman, thank you all. >> thank you. >> brown: online, we invite you to weigh in with your thoughts on the president's proposals on social security and medicare. you can leave a comment at our "rundown" blog or on our facebook page. >> woodruff: now to our series on dropouts and what educators are trying to get more high- school students to graduate. we've spent much time chronicling the problem and looking at different approaches that make a difference. there's been better news to report of late, but with graduation season coming soon, there are also questions about what's behind the numbers. the newshour's special correspondent for education, john merrow, has the story for our american graduate project. >> reporter: it's graduation day for the high school class of 2012 at college career tech academy in pharr, texas. graduation rates have been rising here. in fact, according to a u.s. department of education report, they've been going up all across the country. the latest data show the high school graduation rate has risen to 78.2%. that's a five