In the face of continued crticism that the federal Education Department is allowing states to weaken graduation-rate accountability, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent a letter to states reinforcing that high school completion must be a significant part of accountability systems under No Child Left Behind Act waivers ... Phillip Lovell, the vice president of federal advocacy for the Alliance for Excellent Education, said, "Unfortunately, the dear colleague letter doesn't do anything to fix any of the problems ...it's not significant at all."