Few people realize the impact that high school dropouts have on a community’s economic, social, and civic health. Business owners and residents—in particular, those without school-aged children—may not be aware that they have much at stake in the success of their local high schools. Indeed, everyone—from car dealers and realtors to bank managers and local business owners—benefits when more students graduate from high school. To better understand the various economic benefits that a particular community could expect if it were to reduce its number of high school dropouts, the Alliance, with the generous support of State Farm®, analyzed the local economies of the nation’s fifty largest cities and their surrounding areas to calculate economic projections that estimate the gross increase in important local economic factors such as individual earnings, home and auto sales, job and economic growth, spending and investment, tax revenue, and human capital.

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Presents the conclusions of noted economists who looked at this question for the Alliance, as well as a compilation of additional research from other sources. This report represents a summary of the two reports: Public and Private Benefits of Education for At-Risk Youth and the Alliance for Excellent Education Framework and Analytical Framework for Assessing the Potential Return on a Federal Investment in the Alliance for Excellent Education’s “Every Child a Graduate.”