ATLANTA — High school dropouts from the 2005-2006 school year in the Southern Regional Education Board states stand to lose about $133 billion in additional income during their lifetimes, a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education shows.
The report is further evidence that all 50 states need to raise high school graduation rates and help far greater numbers of students finish high school well-prepared for college and careers. Details are available at the Web site of the Washington-based nonprofit Alliance for Excellent Education, www.all4ed.org.
The report, released today, shows that an estimated 357,500 students dropped out of the Class of 2006 before graduation in the 16 SREB member states. The Alliance for Excellent Education report provides breakdowns for each state on the number of estimated dropouts and the economic costs to the state’s residents.
“Without substantially higher graduation rates for high school students, state residents will not see the prosperity and improved quality of life our people deserve,” SREB President Dave Spence said. “All states and local school systems should be engaging in a number of strategies that can help more students succeed.”
The SREB Challenge to Lead Goals for Education call for states to ensure that all young adults earn a high school diploma or, if for some reason they cannot, pass the GED tests. The SREB goals also call for states to ensure that all high school graduates are well-prepared for college and careers. SREB works closely with state leaders and educators in its 16 member states on policies and practices to help meet these goals.
SREB’s policy and best practices reports highlight graduation rates in many states and provide recommendations for state leaders and educators to boost graduation rates. All SREB states need to raise their high school graduation rates substantially, even states whose current rates are higher than the national average of 75 percent (based on federal data).
SREB recommends that all states hold public schools more accountable for raising graduation rates. Currently, most states do not penalize schools for having low graduation rates and do not provide extensive services to help address the problem. Some states have passed legislation within the past two years to address the dropout problem, including Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Also, SREB recommends that state leaders such as governors, legislators and state education chiefs set public goals for improved graduation rates and enact policies that will help more students finish high school. See the SREB report Getting Serious About High School Graduation, available at www.sreb.org (under “Latest Reports” on the home page). Journalists can also check state progress on improving graduation rates and meeting the other regional education goals by visiting www.sreb.org (under “SREB States Are Making Progress Toward Education Goals” on the home page).
SREB provides research and best practices reports for on-site school leaders and teachers through its High Schools That Work and Making Middle Grades Work programs, which form the nation’s largest school improvement network. More than 1,200 schools in some 32 states participate in the network. Each summer, the programs hold an annual conference that draws some 8,000 educators. See the SREB High Schools That Work report, 10 Strategies for Improving High School Graduation Rates and Student Achievement, available at www.sreb.org (See “In the News” at the bottom of the home page).
For more information about the high school graduation crisis or to discuss high school graduation rates in your state in more detail, please contact SREB Communications.
SREB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, advises state education leaders on ways to improve education. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees.
