Via KPCC | by Sarah Butrymowicz Devon Sanford’s mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when he was in the eighth grade. After barely finishing at Henry Clay Middle School in South Los Angeles, he never enrolled in high school. He spent what should have been his freshman year caring for his mother and waiting for...

* UPDATED For the third straight year in LA Unified, the high school graduation rate increased and the dropout rate decreased, according to new state data released today. Last June, the graduation rate climbed to 67.9 percent, or 1.3 percentage points higher than the previous year. And more students stayed in school: The dropout rate...