Earlier this week, the Alliance for Excellent Education came out with a groundbreaking study on the impacts of cutting the nation’s high school dropout rate in half. EMSI developed the economic model used for the study, which looks at the top 45 metros in the US.
The study focused on the estimated 600,000 dropouts from the class of 2008. Here are the nationwide results from the study, assuming half those dropouts had graduated:
- Earnings for those graduates would increase $4.1 billion in the average year
- Spending by those graduates would rise by $2.8 billion
- Tax revenue would shoot up $536 million each year
- Graduates would support 30,000 additional jobs
- Home sales would skyrocket by $10.5 billion
More details are in this All4Ed press release. According to Bob Wise, former governor of West Virginia and president of All4Ed, “The report underscores the notion that the best economic stimulus package is a high school diploma. If the U.S. is to improve its competitiveness in the global economy, it must have an education system that meets the fast-growing demand for high-level skills.”
If you’re interested in learning more about the dropout model, please contact Rob Sentz.
