There's little to cheer in Charlotte-Mecklenburg's graduation and ninth-grade promotion rates. Last year's 74 percent graduation rate and a ninth-grade failure rate of 18 percent show movement in the right direction. But the numbers aren't even close to where they need to be.

They don't put the system on course for a 90 percent graduation rate by 2014 - the district's goal. And the failure of nearly 2,500 students last year to graduate within four years is likely to be costly.

Though some will end up graduating, far too many won't. Those dropouts will be twice as likely as graduates to be jobless, three times as likely to live in poverty and need public assistance and eight times more likely to wind up in prison.

So, moving in the right direction is good but not good enough.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg administrators and school board members recognized that at Tuesday's school board meeting. Some urged focusing more resources on strategies that are already working and pushed for a community-wide campaign to improve graduation rates faster.

This board adds our voices once again to those moves. We sounded the alarm in 2010 about the graduation rate and issued a challenge to this community to do something about it. The graduation rate was 69.9 percent at the end of that school year, so CMS has made progress.

But it still lags behind nearby Guilford County schools, demographically similar to CMS, which has an 83.1 percent grad rate. CMS particularly lags Guilford in one daunting area - graduation rates for black students. In Guilford, the four-year rate for blacks was 78 percent last year. In CMS where blacks represent nearly half of potential graduates, the rate was 67 percent. For black males, the rate was even worse: Just 58 percent graduated.

Guilford might have some lessons for CMS. But CMS is already learning from successes in its own backyard. On Tuesday, officials highlighted Mallard Creek High. The CMS school is high poverty and high minority. Yet, its graduation rate last year was 93 percent. It's black grad rate? 92.7 percent. Officials pointed to Mallard Creek's focused guidance for each potential graduate with a checklist of progress on goals as a key that should be replicated.

CMS also pointed to the success of the nonprofit Communities In Schools dropout prevention program. Our editorial board has sung its praises for years and advocated expanding its use in CMS. CMS officials were doing so too on Tuesday, noting that 93 percent of the CMS seniors in CIS graduated. The program places coordinators in schools to work with students and their parents, teachers, social workers and school administrators.

CMS board member Trent Merchant was wowed by CIS. He said that given the "guaranteed returns" it would be "a shame" if this community couldn't find a way to expand the program.

We agree. CIS, Mallard Creek's model and other strategies can help CMS reach that 90 percent or higher graduation rate goal. They can also help do something more vital: Ensure that students graduate with the skills and academics to get and keep a job, or pursue higher learning at college or elsewhere.

This community must join together to tackle this issue. We all pay when students fail to graduate. We all benefit when they get that diploma.