Statistics

While most parents think their children are receiving a quality education, the majority of American students are falling behind their international counterparts. The consequences to our country are dramatic.
Consider these stark statistics:

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We have low expectations for American students.

  • American students rank 25th in math and 21st in science compared to students in 30 industrialized countries.
  • America’s top math students rank 25th out of 30 countries when compared with top students elsewhere in the world. [1]
  • By the end of 8th grade, U.S. students are two years behind in the math being studied by peers in other countries. [2]
  • Sixty eight percent of 8th graders can’t read at their grade level, and most will never
    catch up.
Too many students drop out.

  • More than 1.2 million students drop out of school every year. That’s more than
    6,000 students every school day and one every 26 seconds. [3]
  • The national high school graduation rate is only 70 percent, with states ranging
    from a high of 84 percent in Utah to a low of 54 percent in South Carolina. [4]
  • Graduation rates are much lower for minority students. Only about half of the nation’s African-American and Latino students graduate on time from
    high school. [5]
Dropping out has dire consequences for the dropout...

  • The poverty rate for families headed by dropouts is more than twice that of
    families headed by high school graduates. [6]
  • Nearly 44 percent of dropouts under age 24 are jobless, and the unemployment
    rate of high school dropouts older than 25 is more than three times that of college graduates. [7]
  • Over a lifetime, dropouts earn $260,000 less than high school graduates. [8]
  • The health of an 18-year-old high school dropout is similar to that of a more educated person over two decades older. [9]
...and for society.

  • Dropouts from the class of 2007 will cost our nation more than $300 billion in lost
    wages, lost taxes and lost productivity.
  • Dropouts contribute about $60,000 less in federal and state income taxes. Each cohort of dropouts costs the U.S. $192 billion in lost income and taxes. [10]
  • Sixty five percent of U.S. convicts are dropouts and lack of education is one of the strongest predictors of criminal activity.
  • A dropout is more than eight times as likely to be in jail or prison as a high school graduate and nearly 20 times as likely as a college graduate. [11]
  • For each additional year of schooling, the odds that a student will someday
    commit a crime like murder or assault are reduced by almost one-third. [12]
  • Each year, the U.S. spends $9,644 per student compared to $22,600 per prison inmate. [13]
  • Increasing the high school completion rate by just one percent for all men ages
    20 to 60 would save the U.S. up to $1.4 billion per year in reduced costs from
    crime. [14]
Strong American Schools analysis of data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Based on data from Volume 2, table 6.2a (p. 227). Rank is based on students performing at Level 6 in each country on the 2006 PISA math assessment.
Schmidt, W. (2003, February 4). “Presentation to Mathematics and Science Initiative.”

Source
Education Week. (2007, June 12). Diplomas Count 2007: Ready for What? Preparing Students for College, Careers, and Life after High School. Bethesda, MD: Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. Per day figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 180 school days per year. Per second figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 31,536,000 seconds in a full calendar year.
Education Week. (2007, June 12). Diplomas Count 2007: Ready for What? Preparing Students for College, Careers, and Life after High School. Bethesda, MD: Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. Per day figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 180 school days per year. Per second figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 31,536,000 seconds in a full calendar year.
Education Week. (2007, June 12). Diplomas Count 2007: Ready for What? Preparing Students for College, Careers, and Life after High School. Bethesda, MD: Editorial Projects in Education Research Center. Per day figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 180 school days per year. Per second figure derived by dividing 1.23 million by 31,536,000 seconds in a full calendar year.
Baum, Sandy and Payea, Kathleen (2004). Education Pays 2004: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society. Trends in Higher Education Series. New York City: The College Board.

Source
NCES (2006). Digest 2005. Table 370.

Source
Rouse, C. (2005, September). The Labor Market Consequences of an Inadequate Education. Princeton University and NBER. Prepared for the Equity Symposium on “The Social Costs of Inadequate Education” at Teachers’ College, Columbia University.
Muennig, P. (2000, October). Health Returns to Education Interventions. Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health. Paper prepared for the symposium on “The Social Costs of Inadequate Education,” Teachers College, Columbia University.
Rouse, C. (2005, September). The Labor Market Consequences of an Inadequate Education. Princeton University and NBER. Prepared for the Equity Symposium on “The Social Costs of Inadequate Education” at Teachers’ College, Columbia University.
Harlow, C.W. (2003, January. Revised April 15, 2003). Education and Correctional Populations. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Source Data are from 1997.
McKinsey & Company. (2007, May). Education: The Global Challenge 2007. London: Author.
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2006, November). Healthier and Wealthier: Decreasing Health Care Costs by Increasing Educational Attainment. Washington, DC: Author.
Moretti, E. (2005, September). Does Education Reduce Participation in Criminal Activity? University of California, Berkeley.