What is the crisis in America’s high schools?

Every year, approximately 1.3 million students—that is seven thousand every school day—do not graduate from high school on time. Nationwide, only about 70 percent of students earn their high school diplomas. Among minority students the numbers are even more drastic, only 55 percent of Hispanic, 51 percent of African American, and 50 percent of Native American students in the United States graduate with a regular diploma, compared to 76 percent of white students.

Why are kids dropping out of high school?

Students drop out of high school for variety of reasons, but low reading scores are a major predictor. After all, how can students be expected to master content if they cannot read and comprehend the material in their textbooks? Students in the bottom quartile of achievement are twenty times more likely to drop out of school than those in the top quartile. High school performance indicators are highly predictive of high school graduation and college and career readiness. These factors include attendance, course-taking patterns, success on college- and career-ready assessments, postsecondary success rates, and school climate. In addition, studies have shown that most students say they dropout because they were bored and their classes were not relevant to their life or career aspirations.

What are the individual and societal costs of dropping out?

Most high school dropouts soon realize the negative impact of their decision to leave school. The average annual income for a high school dropout in 2005 was $17,299, compared to $26,933 for a high school graduate; this is a difference of $9,634. High school dropouts are also far more likely to spend their lives periodically unemployed, on government assistance, or cycling in and out of the prison system.

The impact on the country’s economy is also significant. High school dropouts face long odds of landing a good-paying job in the ultra-competitive job market of the twenty-first century. In addition, they are generally less healthy, die earlier, are more likely to become parents when very young, are more at risk of tangling with the criminal justice system, and are more likely to need social welfare assistance.