A、It has a record high. B、It has reached 73 percent. C、It has decreased by 1 percent. D、It has increased by 6 percent. A

Now, listen to Part One of the interview.
W:(1)Some good news to report today from the world of public education: For the first time in recent years, American high schools have cracked a milestone on graduation rates, reaching 80 percent. In fact, 81 percent of American high schools graduated on time in 2012. That is up from 73 percent six years earlier. The report is based on statistics from the U. S. Department of Education and was compiled by a coalition called America’s Promise Alliance.(2)Joining us now is John Bridgeland, president and CEO of Civic Enterprises, one member of that group, and he’s an author of today’s report. He has been adviser to the American Graduate project. And welcome to you.
M: Thank you. Nice to be with you.
W: So, what is driving the good news? What—how did we get there?
M: Well, the significant gains in graduation rates have actually been among Hispanic students and African-Americans since 2006. And these students, half of African-Americans and 40 percent of Hispanics, were trapped in these dropout factory schools, where it was literally a 50 - 50 proposition whether you graduated or not.
W: You use the term dropout factory?
M: We do.(3)It’s a tough term, but I think it’s an appropriate term, because, literally, you go into these places, and half of your classmates are not finishing school.
W: So, give me an example of a place or two where you saw the difference that resulted in these kinds of statistics.
M: New York City had these large urban school districts. They broke them up into small—smaller learning communities, schools within schools, ninth grade academies, made them more personalized learning environments, where young people could connect to learning in ways that showed relationships between what they were learning in school and what they wanted to be in life.(4)In fact, we had done a study called "The Silent Epidemic", listening to the perspectives of dropouts all across the United States. And they told us the leading reason they left is because they didn’t see those connections between career dreams and classroom learning.
W: So, good news, but that of course still means that one in five students are not graduating.
M: It’s true.
W: So, there is a lot left to do.
M: There is. And, in fact,(5)the gaps between graduation rates of low-income students and their middle- and higher-income peers up 20 percentage points or up to 30 percentage points in some states. Also, for students with disabilities, the graduate rate in Nevada is 24 percent. The graduate rates in Kansas and Montana are 77 percent and 81 percent respectively. So, we have these huge gaps between students with different needs and abilities.
This is the end of Part One of the interview.
Questions 1 to 5 are based on what you have just heard.
1. What do we learn about the graduation rate of American high schools?
2. What do we learn about John Bridgeland?
3. Which of the following BEST describes the dropout factory schools?
4. What is the main reason for dropouts according to the study "The Silent Epidemic"?
5. According to the interview, what do we know about students with different needs and abilities?