We ask, instead, what is the cost of maintaining the status quo? What is the cost of inaction?
The United States has a steady high school dropout rate of nearly 30 percent, and the rate is significantly higher among Latinos and African Americans.2 Researchers estimate that dropouts are far more likely to become incarcerated,3 suffer poor health,4 and have shorter life spans than high school graduates.5 The Alliance for Excellent Education estimates that if the 1.2 million high school dropouts from the class of 2007 had earned their diplomas instead of dropping out, the U.S. economy would have seen an additional $329 billion in wages over these students’ lifetimes. And that’s only for one class. If this annual pattern is allowed to continue, more than 12 million students will drop out of school during the next decade at a cost to the nation of more than $3 trillion. (Top) 1. California Department of Education (2005), Getting Results: Developing Safe and Healthy Kids, Update 5: Student Health, Supportive Schools, and Academic Success, (www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fd/documents/getresultsu
