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Dropout rate affects economic development
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | April 6, 2009
One more answer to the question Why Are We Doing This? Why are we offering a course to teachers and mentors to teach skills and understandings that help keep kids in school?
This article by Bobby L. Hickman, is from the website, Business to Business. It is about the economic impact of dropouts on the Georgia economy – but, it is easy to see that the bottom line is the same in Oregon, and all around the country. When a kid drops out of school, the costs are like a stone thrown into water – they just keep on expanding, beyond one person, one family, one neighborhood, to affect our entire economy.
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“If you’re not convinced education has a dramatic effect on economic development and growth, you haven’t met Dr. Steve Dolinger. As president of the non-profit Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education (GPEE), he travels around the state talking to chambers of commerce, civic clubs and other community leaders about the economics of education. He presents sobering statistics detailing how the high-school dropout rate has an $18 billion annual economic impact on Georgia.
What sort of reaction does he get?
“Usually it’s a little bit of a wake-up call,” Dolinger says. “They’ll know some of the data. They know the graduation rate is getting better but it’s not where we want it. They know SAT scores are improving but still not where they need to be.”
But when GPEE starts tying dollar values to those statistics, it’s often an eye-opening discussion. According to a Georgia Southern study, in 2005, the percentage of Georgians age 25 and older who had completed high school was 82.8 percent. The national average was 84.2 percent.
Other studies indicate if the number of 20-year-old high-school dropouts were cut in half, the federal government would reap $45 billion in extra tax revenues and reduced costs for public health, crime and justice, and welfare.
The Georgia high school graduation rate improved from 65 percent in 2004 to 72 percent in 2007. But Dolinger says that number represents 123,275 students over the past four years who entered ninth grade but did not graduate from high school.
He says high school non-completion “affects so many things. It increases criminal activity, and adds to the costs of prison and welfare. They have lower lifetime earnings, which reduces their buying power, lowers tax revenues for governments and reduces economic growth. There’s also decreased health status, more criminal activity, higher rates of teen pregnancy and single motherhood – just higher costs all around.”
Aside from the immediate impact, the education system also has a direct effect on future economic growth. ….”
To see the entire article, go to http://www.btobmagazine.com/Articles/2008/April/eco_dev_beat.html
Topics: Drop Out Rate, Dropouts |