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they help struggling students with math courses. It's all part of the retention effort, which leads to a higher graduation rate.
• So far, the average number of freshman students who return as sophomores is 72 percent, the same as last year. The system overall, which accounts for students who transfer to other regental universities is 75 percent, dropping a percentage point from a year earlier. Results are mixed among the schools, as well. For example, Black Hills State University made improvements from 59 percent last year to 65 percent this year. The University of South Dakota, on the other hand, saw its rates fall from 78 percent last year to 75 percent this year.
• We don't have an easy solution to help solve the problem but applaud the Board of Regents for looking seriously at the reasons behind the state's dropout rate. The regents thinks retention is so important that they are considering awarding schools bonuses for doing well. Student success not only helps the six schools but also provides a well-educated and trained people for the state's work force.
• We would like to see the regents continue to lead to turn the problems around and bring all of the state's public universities into an era of retention success. The state needs to continue to aggressively pursue reasons behind the dropout numbers and look at multiple solutions to help students stay in college in order to be prepared for professions that can raise their standard of living and quality of life.
• That's important on an individual level and for the entire state.
• ___
• Watertown Public Opinion. Oct. 11, 2012
• Part of the process
• South Dakota is getting ready for two executions in the coming weeks. Barring last-minute legal twists involving inmates Eric Robert and Donald Moeller, both of whom have said they're ready to die, South Dakota will carry out the final steps in its death penalty process for the first time since 2007 when Elijah Page was executed for his role in the torture and killing of a 19-year-old man seven years prior. He, too, asked to die. That execution was the first in the state in 60 years.
• This month Robert and Moeller are scheduled to meet a similar fate; Robert for killing a prison guard during a failed prison break and Moeller for kidnapping, raping and murdering a 9-year-old girl. Robert is scheduled to die sometime next week and Moeller two or three weeks later.
• There are no concerns in either case about the possibility of executing an innocent man, which may have happened in other states around the country. Both men have admitted their guilt, both have said the penalty is just and both are ready to die. And a lot of people believe they should die for the crimes they committed. It's tough to argue with their reasons for thinking that way and yet there is still some

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