Washington's 30% Dropout Rate
Facts and statistics regarding the dropout crisis
The dropout rate is the same today as it was 40 years ago. What has changed is our world.
Our high dropout rate is not a student problem or a school problem, it's a community problem. When so many young people enter adulthood, enter the job market without the skills, attitudes and ethics necessary to succeed, we all lose.
Gone is our manufacturing-based economy that accommodated those without skills. The economy of today requires an educated workforce, and across all sectors values analytical and strong interpersonal skills.
For our communities to be healthy, we must attract and retain the well paying, in-demand jobs that drive the new economy. We can only do this with a capable, competitive workforce.
Our baseline for education has shifted upward; our graduation rate needs to catch up.
- In Washington State only 70% of students graduate.
- Washington State is ranked 37th in the nation for graduation rates.
- Nationally a student drops out of high school every 26 seconds. That’s 1.2 million per year – or 6,000 a day.
Economic Impacts
- 29,800 students did not graduate from Washington’s high schools in 2007; the loss of lifetime earnings for that group of dropouts alone are more then $7.7 billion.
- Washington would save more than $436.1 million in health care costs over the lifetimes of each class of dropouts had they earned their diplomas.
- If the students who dropped out of the Class of 2008 had graduated, the nation’s economy would have benefited from an additional $319 billion in income over their lifetimes.
- Nearly half of all dropouts ages 16-24 are unemployed.
Income Potential
- The average annual income for a high school dropout in 2005 was $17,299, compared to $26,933 for a high school graduate, a difference of $9,634.
- High school students living in low-income families drop out of school at six times the rate of their peers from high-income families.
Impacts on Crime
- Washington’s economy would see a combination of crime-related savings and additional revenue of about $111 million each year if the male high school graduation rate increased by just 5%.
- Research indicates that 75% of America’s state prison inmates, almost 59% of federal inmates, and 69% of jail inmates did not complete high school.
- High school dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested in their lifetimes.
International Standing
- America’s high school graduation rate ranks 21st in the world. Forty years ago, we were first.
