Columbia Univ. Study: $45 BILLION per year savings for lower dropout rate

[TexasLawyer]

Study: $45B savings for lower dropout rate

NEW YORK, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. taxpayers would save $45 billion a year if the number of high school dropouts were cut in half, a university study said Thursday. The savings would come from extra tax revenues; lower costs for public health, crime and justice; and decreased welfare payments, the Columbia University study said.

Even improving high school graduation by 20 percent would save $18 billion, the study by the university's Teachers College said.

The study says improving graduation rates begins in elementary school and even in preschool. Its recommendations include cutting class sizes to 15 in kindergarten through third grade; creating small-group learning circles with high academic expectations and parental involvement; improving public-school nutrition; and increasing teacher salaries.

"What makes this study so powerful is that it has been conducted by economists of the first rank, using sophisticated approaches that, if anything, understate the potential value of investing up front in education," said President Bob Wise of the Alliance for Excellent Education.

<snip>

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/112502.php/Study:-$45B-savings-for-lower-dropout-rate

[TexasLawyer]

1. Nearly 1/3 Of Public School Students Fail To Graduate

Really sad statistics.


Report: Nearly 1/3 Of Public School Students Fail To Graduate


A warning is coming from the National Education Association: the country's children are in crisis.

This comes after a Gates Foundation Report found that nearly a third of all public high school students fail to graduate with their class and many eventually drop out.

<snip>

http://wcpo.com/news/2007/local/02/08/grad_rates.html

[mikelewis]

2. True... but educated people demand more money... money, business doesn't want...

...to pay. We need to dumb down America so we can exploit the ignorant as we do in other countries.

[snappyturtle]

3. This is so powerful! However, I bet it gets none to little

media coverage. I think the most important part of the recommendations is "high expectations". I'm a retired teacher and found that letting students know we expect they can acheive highly is empowering to students. I know it works. I did it and students knew I had confidence in setting my expectations and they delivered......it was the element of education I loved to watch develop....I got such a reward seeing students who had been beaten down, acheive, sometimes for the first time in their academic lives. We see this done in sports why not in academics?

edit: When I got back to the post to K&R it I read mikelewis' reply and I'm afraid he sees what's "really" presently happening in education.

[Benhurst]

4. I guess now they'll want good money spent on education which

otherwise could be spent on bombs and munitions.

Jeez! The bleeding hearts never give up, do they?

[TexasLawyer]

6. the REAL costs of this insane war

We are diverting billions of dollars from education, which could build America's future and provide security to our children and grandchildren, and spending those dollars on a dead-end war on the other side of the world.

When calculating the costs of the war, I think that what we are trading off-- like the cost of NOT educating our children-- is a legitimate consideration.

[Solo_in_MD]

5. Typical educrat speak...ignoring the obvious need to have/enarge vocation education

to give students valuable skills that translate into real jobs and success in life.

Been a number of articles lately about how we have many in college who are clueless or just drifting, often not college material. A journeyman electrician makes $50K. Typical liberal arts college grads make about $32K, assuming they can find work. We have way too many liberal arts majors in McJobs, and there is a shortage of electricians. It takes about 4 years for either to reach that level. There is a clue here.

A major culprit is California, who killed vocational education after Prop 13. It had been unppular with the educrats for years. Here in my temp home of MD, they have not fallen for that yet. They do nuring, computer graphics, law enforcement, auto mech, construction, and other Votech pathways. Kids still get a diplomna, but they also get an opportuinity to do something as well.

[TexasLawyer]

7. This is a racial equality issue too

since among hispanic and black youths, around HALF never graduate high school. Here in Houston, Texas, over half of all high schoolers never graduate.

I thoght these statistics were interesting:



http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0303/p01s02-legn.html