A national report released today has good news about the nation’s high schools. Fewer students dropped out of high school in 2009-10 than the previous year, and more students overall graduated. That’s according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Meanwhile, state data shows the Newport Independent School District is making progress in curbing its dropout rate. The Enquirer reported in May that the dropout rate for the urban district had skyrocketed to 8.4 percent in 2008-09, the highest rate in Northern Kentucky and the state.