The Economic Benefits of Reducing the Dropout Rate

The most recent estimate shows that high school graduation rates for African American, Latino, and American Indian students hover only slightly higher than 50 percent, more than 20 percentage points lower than that of their white peers. The Alliance for Excellent Education discusses its analysis of the local benefits – in home and auto sales, tax revenues, jobs and economic growth, and spending and investment - of reducing the dropout rate among students of color in the largest metro areas, and how to address the challenge.