Facts About High School Graduation in the United States

Facts About High School Graduation in the United States

Work needs to be done

• The national high school graduation rate is 80 percent. Currently, about one in five students leaves high school before completion. [1]
• Among students who do graduate, one-third need remedial courses in college[2] and far too few earn a college degree. Yet more than half of all new jobs in the next decade will require some postsecondary education.[3]

The Good News

• The number of students enrolled in dropout factories is down 47 percent in the last decade, from 2.64 million in 2002 to 1.4 million in 2012.

• Students of color have led the way in both increasing their graduation rates and leaving dropout factory high schools.
• Since 2006, graduation rates have increased by 15 percent for Latino students, 9 percent for African American students and 5 percent for white students.
• Since 2002, enrollment in dropout factories has dropped from 46 percent 23 percent among African Americans, from 39 percent to 15 percent among Latinos, and from 11 percent to 5 percent among whites.

• We have reason to be optimistic. Graduation rates are rising. We know what to do, and we know where to focus. GradNation is a large and growing movement of dedicated organizations, individuals and communities working to end America’s dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21st century workforce. You can help end the dropout crisis.

State of Our Children & Nation

• A high school diploma matters to individuals, communities, and society. High school graduates are more likely to be employed, make higher taxable income, and aid in job generation.
• Had the nation already reached our 90% goal, the additional graduates from a single class would have increased GDP by an estimated $6.6 billion annually and increased annual local, state, and federal tax revenue by $1.8 billion.[4]
• Graduates are less likely to engage in criminal behavior or require social services.[5] They have better health and longer life expectancy.[6]
• High school graduates are more likely to be engaged in their communities. During the 2012 presidential election, 24 percent of youth with only a high school diploma voted, 37 percent with a college degree voted, and only 4 percent of high school dropouts voted.[7]
• Graduates contribute to America’s national security because dropouts are not qualified to serve in the military.[8]

• If the dropouts in each class were reduced by half, 54,000 new jobs would be created.[9]
• Business leaders report difficulty in finding enough qualified employees with the skills, training and education to meet their companies’ needs.[10]

A [Insert Community Name] Graduation Snapshot

Add some bullets here that showcase your community’s graduation rate along with any other data points on social and economic impact [for those numbers visit along with other essential data driven information you’d like to share [you can find more specific state information in the 2014 Building a Grad Nation report at

For more information, visit: and [insert your local organization urls here]

1

[1] U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics (2013)

[2] U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics (2011), The Condition of Education 2011. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_rmc.asp#info

[3] The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (2010). Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018. www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/FullReport.pdf

[4] Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Crisis, a report by Civic Enterprises, Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, America’s Promise Alliance and Alliance for Excellent Education, March 2012.

[5] U.S. Department of Labor (2010). America’s Youth at 23: School Enrollment, Training, and Employment Transitions between Age 22 and 23. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Labor Statistics. www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy97; Andrew Sum et al. (2009). The Consequences of Dropping Out of High School: Joblessness and Jailing for High School Dropouts and the High Costs for Taxpayers. Boston, MA: Center for Labor Market Studies; Lochner and Moretti, “The Effect of Education on Crime”,

[6] Pleis J.R., Lucas J.W., Ward B.W. (2010, December). Summary Health Statistics for the U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2009, Vital and Health Statistics Series 10, no. 249. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_249.pdf; Rumberger, Russell W. (2012, January 24). America Cannot Afford The Stiff Price Of A Dropout Nation. Silicon Valley Education Foundation. Muenning, Peter. (2005). The Economic Value of Health Gains Associated with Education Interventions. New York: Columbia University. Retrieved from

[7] CIRCLE. (2012, November 15). Young Voters in the 2012 Presidential Election: The Educational Gap Remains. [Graph: Young Voters by Educational Attainment, 2012 Presidential Election]. Retrieved from

[8] Council On Foreign Relations (2012) U.S. Education Reform and National Security.

[9] Alliance for Excellent Education, (March, 2011

[10] Balfanz, R., Bridgeland, J., Bruce, M., & Fox, J.H. (2013). Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic - 2012 Annual Update. Washington, D.C.: Civic Enterprises, the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, America's Promise Alliance, and the Alliance for Excellent Education. Retrieved from