Sobering Statistics

 Some sobering statistics to brighten your day:

• Every school day, nearly 7,000 American high school students become dropouts.
  

• Only 70 percent of all entering freshmen and slightly more than half of students of color finish high school with a regular diploma.
  

• Only 30 percent of students entering high school read at grade level.
  

• Among developed nations, the United States ranks 17th in its high school graduation rate.
  

• An estimated 85 percent of current jobs and almost 90 percent of fast-growing and best-paying jobs now require some postsecondary education.
  

• Dropouts from the class of 2006 alone cost the nation more than $309 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes.  
  

• High school dropouts often have trouble finding well-paying jobs, are generally less healthy, die earlier, are more likely to become parents when very young, are more at risk of tangling with the criminal justice system, and more likely than not will need social welfare assistance.