Interventions Curb Dropout Rates and Give Solid
Returns on Investment
According to the Sacramento Bee, “California’s
high school graduation rate in 2006 was the lowest in
10 years. The estimated 170,000 students who failed
to graduate…will cost the state $46 billion in
lost earnings and $2 billion in lost state taxes. Clearly
the state must act . . .” In fact, California
is taking some important first steps, with two foundation-funded
studies that: (1) identify interventions that will improve
graduation rates and calculate the cost-benefit of implementing
those interventions; and (2) estimate the fiscal and
social burdens from high school dropouts in California.
“The
Return on Investment for Improving California’s
High School Graduation Rate,” by Henry Levin
of Teachers College, Columbia University, and Clive
Belfield of Queens College, CUNY, examines many potential
interventions and finds good evidence for:
- Raising teaching quality
- Reducing class size in the early grades
- Publicly funding preschool
- Increasing funds for Head Start, and
- Implementing First Things First at the secondary
level.
Their evaluation shows that California could realize
lifetime fiscal savings between $322,000 and $392,000
for each additional high school graduate, net of the
resources needed to provide the additional education.
Levin and Belfield reveal the costs of not acting in
their other California study, “The
Economic Losses from High School Dropouts in California.”
They calculate “what is being lost by failing
to ensure that all students graduate from high school”
and measure the negative impacts of high school dropouts
“on earnings, on tax revenues, and on spending
on health, crime and welfare.”
National Trends
Levin and Belfield, working with colleagues from other
universities, also performed similar analyses on national
data calculating the Social
Cost of Inadequate Education and the potential benefits
of interventions to raise graduation rates. These analyses
included projections, by Thomas Bailey, that academic
achievement in the U.S. is likely to drop between now
and 2020 for the first time in history because of demographic
changes (based on U.S. Census data). The two Levin-Belfield
studies of California indicate programs and investments
that can help us prevent this achievement downturn.
California Dropout Research Project
The California Dropout Research Project, associated
with the University of California at Santa Barbara,
commissioned the Levin-Belfield studies. “Until
now, we knew very little about the economic costs of
California’s dropout crisis,” said CDRP
director Russell Rumberger in announcing the results.
“These finds reveal severe economic consequences
to the state and underscore the need for solutions.”
In January 2008, CDRP’s policy committee plans
to release a draft state policy agenda aimed at improving
California’s high school graduation rate.
Prepared by Molly A. Hunter, October 23, 2007
|
