NPR Series Highlights High School Dropout Crisis in America

This week, National Public Radio (NPR) is airing a five-part series that focuses on the dropout problem in the United States. In an introduction to the series, NPR education correspondent Claudio Sanchez explained that the original impetus for the series was the state of the current U.S. economy and the staggering cost of dropping out of high school, citing research that found that a high school dropout makes almost a million dollars less in the course of his or her lifetime than a college graduate. The series talks to students across the country about their experiences in high school, including students who are currently at risk for dropping out of high school and the experiences of high school dropouts after they leave school. Sanchez noted that in the course of this investigation he encountered school districts that are doing different things to combat the problem – such as Baltimore, which puts in a lot of time and effort to reduce truancy – but there is no one real solution. Using data to track students’ progress, and making sure it is reliable and consistent data, will go a long way to getting a handle on the dropout problem. Check out the entire series on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, or view the segments individually: Note: This blog post was originally authored under the auspices of the National High School Center at the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The National High School Center’s blog, High School Matters, which ran until March 2013, provided an objective perspective on the latest research, issues, and events that affected high school improvement. The CCRS Center plans to continue relevant work originally developed under the National High School Center grant. National High School Center blog posts that pertain to CCRS Center issues are included on this website as a resource to our stakeholders.

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