Could optional 13th year ease transition to college?

Boston City Councilor Michael Flaherty is advocating for an additional year in the city's K-12 public school system to help ease the transition from high school to college, an acknowledgment of the fact that half of the city's high school graduates don’t complete college within six years of graduation, the Boston Globe reports.In pushing the Year 13 initiative, Flaherty points out that despite the city's increasing graduation rate, some graduates don’t seem prepared to take on the rigors of college — but the voluntary additional year of school would be available to all students who have earned their high school diplomas.Flaherty has been touting the idea for about three years, and it has once again gained traction after the Globe’s Valedictorians Project found that about 25% of Boston’s top students between 2005 and 2007 didn't go on to earn a bachelor’s degree within six years of graduating. Adding an optional 13th year of school for Boston students isn't entirely unique in its approach. While the Globe doesn't mention any college credit or vocational education opportunities during that proposed additional year, it is similar to how a number of states and other cities are offering free community college programs to address a variety of issues.