1.3 Million High-School Students in America’s Public Schools Drop Out

June 10, 2010 Print This Post

A new national report from Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center finds that three out of every 10 students in America’s public schools fail to finish high school. That translates to 1.3 million students falling through the cracks every year, or more than 7,200 students lost every day.

According to a news release issued by Education Week, most high-school dropouts are members of historically disadvantaged minority groups. They are also more likely to have attended school in large, urban districts and to come from communities plagued by severe poverty and economic hardship.

Diplomas Count 2010: Graduation by the Numbers–Putting Data to Work for Student Success investigates how data and analysis are being used to boost graduation rates and improve student learning across diverse communities and school environments throughout the United States. The report profiles four school districts that have introduced early warning systems to reduce dropout rates by identifying students at risk of failure. The report also considers ways that insights from deep data analysis can result in tailored interventions, and examines how federal stimulus dollars can strengthen national and local cultures of innovation built on data.

At GaFCP we’ve learned in our 20 years of experience that data-driven strategies have become an essential tool for combating not only the nation’s dropout crisis, but for finding solutions to every challenge that faces children, youth, families, and the neighborhoods in which they reside.

You can access a variety of special Web-only features on the Diplomas Count 2010 Web site, including State Graduation Briefs and an interactive map of state graduation trends. A live webinar on June 15 and a live chat on June 17 will feature highlights from the report, including strategies to leverage data to boost graduation rates and turn around the nation’s struggling high schools.