Key Facts About Dropouts

When young people drop out of school, they put the rest of their lives in jeopardy. Poor reading and writing skills can cripple their communication with employers, friends, and family, while shrinking their access to critical information. Weak math and science skills can mean an adulthood spent struggling to meet the demands of an increasingly complex economy without the necessary tools. Without a diploma and without basic skills, life gets very hard, very fast.

Read our white paper that reviews current literature on “Resiliency Skills and Dropout Prevention”. View HTML page • Download the PDF

Did you know that...

		1 in 10 schools are ‘dropout factories’? (Chicago Tribune, October 30, 2007)
		Dropouts have $11B impact on North Carolina economy? (Charlotte Business Journal, October 30, 2007)
		NYC is attempting to stop the dropout exodus? (Time Magazine, May 3, 2007)
		Public schools lose an average of $8,190 of funding per dropout, per year? (2004 NCES Expenditure Data (National Center for Education Statistics.)
		One-third of all Latino youths in the United States are high school dropouts? (Zehr, M. "Report Spotlight: Latino Dropout Rates, College Attendance," Education Week, Vol. 22, Issue 41, June 12, 2004.)
		One-third of a nation: rising dropout rates and declining opportunities. (Paul E. Barton, Policy Information Center, Educational Testing Service, 2005)
		The national graduation rate is only 68%, with nearly one-third of all public high school students failing to graduate? (Swanson, Christopher B. "Who Graduates? Who Doesn't? A Statistical Portrait of Public High School Graduation, Class of 2001," Urban Institute, 2004.)
		High school graduation rates are 75% for white and Asian students; 53% for Hispanic students; 51% for American Indian students; and 50% for African-American students? ("Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth Are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Crisis," a report from The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University and the Urban Institute, 2004.)