CLEVELAND -- This summer 21 Cleveland Public School students are researching Alzheimer's, strokes, breast cancer and malaria.

This is part of a Case School of Medicine program that selects students from Glenville High School, Rhodes and John F. Kennedy.

The students need a 3.0 GPA and have an interest in science or medicine. Only about one third of the students who apply are accepted into the program.

The students meet other researchers who oversee their work and talk with doctors and medical students. They are also given a practice ACT and counseled on how to select colleges.

So far, in the program's five years all of the students have graduated from high school and gone on to college.

Just today, the education advocacy group, The Education Trust, released a study on graduation rates in the nation. Education Trust believes there should be more accountability in high school education. One in four students in the 9th grade will not receive a diploma in four years. For low income or minority students the numbers are one in three.

In Cleveland, only about half of students graduate, so this program at Case Medical School inspires hope and encouragement.

For more on this program, watch Education Reporter Kim Wheeler's story.