The Importance of Researching High School Dropout Trends - Essay Example

The Importance of Researching High School Dropout Trends School The Importance of Researching High School Dropout Trends The statistics regarding the cost of dropping out of high school and foregoing a college education are well known. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "workers 18 and over [with] bachelors degrees earn an average of $51,206 a year, while those with a high school diploma earn $27,915Workers with an advanced degree make an average of $74,602, and those without a high school diploma average $18,734.

" In 2004, the most recent year available, 85% of U.S. adults over the age of 25 had a high school diploma, 28% had at least a bachelor's degree - both record highs (Holt, 2006). The message of the importance of education is getting through, so much so that many colleges are having trouble keeping pace with the number of applications they are receiving (DeBarros, 2003). However, the number of high school drop-outs is still high: The U.S. High school dropout rate is higher than Germany and Japan (Wooldridge, 1993).

Drop-outs represent an economic cost to the country as a whole. According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, only about two-thirds of children entering high school will eventually graduate. In 2004, more than 2.1 million kids in the United States dropped out of high school in 2004, at a cost of "more than $325 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes," (Holt 2006). That cost is just for the dropouts of 2004; it doesn't include the ongoing cost of dropouts from prior years, and doesn't begin to calculate the cost to the competitive advantage of the U.S.A closer look at the numbers reveals other trends. The U.S.

Census shows that overall, Hispanic adults over 25 hold the fewest degrees, with just 58.4 percent reporting a high school diploma or higher degree. That trails the nearest minority group by far: 80.6% of African Americans over 25 have at least a high school diplomas, compared with 86.8% of Asians and 80% of Non-Hispanic whites (Education Attainment in the United States, 2005). Not only is there a correlation between race and educational attainment, and educational attainment and lifetime income, but studies show that there is an intergenerational factor at work as well.

A so-called "high risk child" lives in a family with four or more of these risk factors:1) Child is not living with two parents; 2) Household head is high school dropout; 3) Family income is below the poverty line; 4) Child is living with parent(s) who is underemployed; 5) Family is receiving welfare benefits; and 6) Child does not have health insurance. In March 2000, 27 percent of the 16-to-19-year-olds in the high-risk category were high school dropouts (not a high school graduate and not currently in school).

For teens not in the high-risk category the dropout rate was 7 percent (AECF, 2001).The AECF goes on to recommend the following strategies, along with implementation ideas for each one: 1) Make it harder for students to drop out of school; 2) address the underlying causes of dropping out; 3) address the needs of the groups at highest risk of dropping out; 4) strengthen school readiness; and 5) strengthen the skills and understanding of the adults who affect teens' motivation and ability to stay in school (Shore, 2003).

To address even one of these factors systematically and uniformly across the country would require a social commitment of unprecedented size as well as financial and human resources, and these efforts would take years to bear fruit. So it makes sense to ask: Are social policy programs that target at-risk groups effective in the long run The best historical example of just such an attempt is Affirmative Action, and according to Donahue and Hickman, 1991:"There is near-unanimous consensus among economists that the government anti-discrimination programs beginning in 1964 contributed to the improved income of African Americans.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to draw conclusions about which specific anti-discrimination programs were most effective. And it may well be that the programs collectively helped even though no single program was overwhelmingly effective."Given these facts, research into implementable, cost-effective approaches would be a invaluable resource for future planning. A pilot program that could be evaluated over a short period of time could serve as a model for the rest of the country. If successful, lost productivity and creativity could be recaptured, and indirect improvements on other social problems such as poverty and the crime rate among the poor and minorities would likely see an impact as well.

ReferencesAnnie E. Casey Foundation. (2001). High-risk kids in America during the 1990s.Executive Summary. Baltimore, MD.Debarros, A. (2003). New baby boom swamps colleges. USA Today. Retrieved on May 12,2006, from http://www.lifecourse.com/college/news/030102_usa.html.Donohue, J., and Hickman, J. (1991). Continuous versus episodic change: the impact of federalcivil rights policy on the economic status of blacks. Journal of Economic Literature, 29:1603-43.Educational Attainment in the United States: 2004. (2005), Produced by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Retrieved May 12, 2006, from http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/censusandstatistics/a/collegepays.htm.Holt, S. (2006). High school dropouts cost the U.S. billions in lost wages and taxes. RetrievedMay 12, 2006, from the Alliance for Excellent Education website at http://www.all4ed.org/press/pr%5F022806.html.Shore, Dr. R. (2003). Kids count Indicator Brief. Reducing the High School Dropout Rate. Produced for the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Retrieved on May 12, 2006, from www.aecf.org/kidscount/indicator_briefs/dropout_rate.

pdfWooldridge, Adrian. (1993). A comparative view of education: effective school reforms. Produced for the Helen Dwight Reid Educational Foundation. Retrieved May 12, 2006, from http://www.mtsu.edu/kburriss/wooldri.htm