Economic Impacts
The Economic Benefits of Reducing the Dropout Rate in the Nation’s Largest Metropolitan Areas Fact Sheets
June 9, 2010
Lowering the high school dropout rate will greatly increase the economic vitality for some of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. The results part of the Alliance’s continuing work linking improved educational outcomes to economic returns. Combined with its release of the forty-five largest metro areas in January, the June 9 release brings the number of cities for which the Alliance has data to over eighty-five. The city-by-city findings include the growth in jobs, home ownership, levels of spending and investment, and car sales that will result from cutting the high school dropout rate in half.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
The Economic Benefits from Halving the Dropout Rate: A Boom to Businessess in the Nation's Largest Metropolitan Areas
January 12, 2010
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.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools 
Issue Brief (PDF)
September 1, 2009
If the high school students who dropped out of the Class of 2009 had graduated, the nation's economy would have benefited from nearly $335 billion in additional income over the course of their lifetimes. The brief includes a breakdown for every state on the numbers of students who fail to graduate and the economic cost that they represent. The brief also includes an examination of how the job losses from the current recession are disproportionately affecting high school dropouts more than individuals with higher educational attainment.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Facts For Education Advocates: The Economic Impacts of Education (co-published with the College Board) Fact Sheet (PDF)
September 1, 2008
Recognizing that no tool is more important than information to help educators and other advocates improve the country’s educational system, the College Board and the Alliance for Excellent Education have formed a partnership to develop a series of fact sheets highlighting the state of American schools and their students. The second in a multi-issue series. After a summer hiatus, the series continues with a “Facts for Education Advocates” feature in this edition discussing some of the economic benefits of education.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Dropouts, Diplomas, and Dollars: U.S. High Schools and the Nation’s Economy Report (PDF)
August 27, 2008
The United States can no longer absorb the costs and losses associated with an education system that produces more than 1.2 million dropouts every year. This report examines the impact of this crisis on the dropouts themselves, as well as its effect on the economy, social fabric, and security of the nation, states, and local communities.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools Issue Brief (PDF)
June 17, 2008
If all of the U.S. high school dropouts from the Class of 2008 had instead earned diplomas along with their classmates, the U.S. economy could have benefited from an additional $319 billion in wages over these students’ lifetimes. So say conservative calculations made by the Alliance for Excellent Education that were published in The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Potential Economic Impacts of Improved Education
June 2008
The economic impact fact sheet helps policymakers and the public understand the extent of the economic costs to society of an educational system that serves so many students poorly and fails to graduate over 1.2 million students every year. It also provides an overview of the potential economic benefits that a state could enjoy were it to invest in a high school system that prepares all high school students for graduation and success after high school.
Access National, State, and District of Columbia information here...
___________________________________________________________________________________________
What Keeps Good Teachers in the Classroom? Understanding and Reducing Teacher Turnover Issue Briefs (PDF)
February 26, 2008
Teachers are crucial to the success of our students. Yet many of them are leaving their schools and the profession every year, particularly in poorer, lower-performing schools. Several studies have attempted to identify why teachers leave and how to stem their turnover, but few have identified the quality of teachers who are departing. As in any profession, not all attrition is bad, but whether bad or good, it has financial ramifications. This brief explores the costs associated with teachers leaving the profession and their schools, the characteristics of those likely to leave, and what can be done to prevent unnecessary and costly turnover.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Hidden Benefits: The Impact of High School Graduation on Household Wealth Issue Briefs (PDF)
February 1, 2007
Hidden Benefits: The Impact of High School Graduation on Household Wealth demonstrates that if high school dropouts who currently head households in the U.S. had instead earned diplomas, the nation’s economy would benefit from an additional $74 billion in wealth accumulated by families. The wealth gap between high school dropouts and high school graduates is even more severe than the better known income gap.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Healthier and Wealthier: Decreasing Health Care Costs by Increasing Educational Attainment Issue Briefs (PDF)
November 1, 2006
Healthier and Wealthier argues that higher educational attainment improves a student’s future income, occupational status, and social prestige, all of which contributes to improved individual health. The brief cites several reasons why, including the fact that Americans with higher educational attainment have more insurance coverage, individuals who lack health insurance receive less medical care and have poorer health outcomes, and lower education levels generally lead to occupations with greater health hazards.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Demography as Destiny: How America Can Build a Better Future Issue Briefs (PDF)
October 17, 2006
The education gap that exists between white and minority students in the United States is a byproduct of both economic disparity and inequity. Lack of resources and fewer qualified teachers are just two factors that contribute to the problem. Currently, only about 70 percent of all American high school students graduate in the expected four years, but the figures are even bleaker for minority populations. As minority populations become larger as a percentage of the population, and if their low graduation rates remain the same, the national graduation rate will soon begin to fall as a growing number of minority students are left behind.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Paying Double: Inadequate High Schools and Community College Remediation Issue Briefs (PDF)
August 1, 2006
Americans are beginning to recognize that many of the nation’s high schools are in crisis, as policymakers, business leaders, and celebrities call attention to the country’s low graduation rates. But the dropout problem, although severe, is only one indicator of the trouble plaguing the country’s secondary schools. Because too many students are not learning the basic skills needed to succeed in college or work while they are in high school, the nation loses more than $3.7 billion a year.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Saving Futures, Saving Dollars: The Impact of Education on Crime Reduction and Earnings Issue Briefs (PDF)
August 1, 2006
Reforming the nation’s high schools could potentially increase the number of graduates and, as a result, significantly reduce the nation’s crime-related costs and add billions of dollars to the economy through the additional wages they would earn. Increasing the graduation rate and college matriculation of male students by only 5 percent could lead to combined savings and revenue of almost $8 billion each year.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Investing in the Education of Older Students: A Summary of the Evidence (Report)
November 1, 2003
Out of Print
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.”
___________________________________________________________________________________________