Lexington, KY -Some call it a problem. To others, it's a crisis. But to Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear and General Colin Powell, it's an outright catastrophe: 1.3 million American kids dropping out of high school every year. More than 6,000 Kentucky kids are among them, each year joining the nearly 26 percent of adults in the commonwealth who with no high school diploma are locked out of the 21st century's most sought-after talent pools.
Before site location teams even visit a city under consideration for a new office or plant, they're already pouring over economic impact data, with the education achievement of a community high on the checklist. With an estimated 80 percent of new jobs created over the next 10 years in high-tech fields that require at least a two-year technical degree, they're looking for assurance that a community has smart, skilled workers in the pipeline.
A complex issue of the many-headed hydra variety, the matter of high school dropouts in Kentucky and across the nation has become common ground for General Powell and former teacher Jane Beshear. Beshear is preparing to leverage her high profile role as First Lady in an all-out campaign to address one of Kentucky's most pressing socioeconomic issues. She will host "Graduate Kentucky: A Community Approach," a statewide summit on dropout prevention scheduled for September 11 and 12 in Frankfort. The two-day conference is sponsored by Powell's America's Promise Alliance, which has organized similar gatherings in scores of cities across the country, and by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and State Farm Insurance.
"That's what is important about this summit," said Beshear. "We feel that there is no single fault for a young person to be at risk. It can be a lot of things. It can be his or her home environment. It can be physical problems or learning disabilities. It can be not seeing that they have the opportunity to go on to college because of finances. There are just so many social issues. Drugs are an issue. Hopelessness is an issue for some people."
Beshear said an initial goal of Graduate Kentucky is to identify as early as possible young people who are at risk of dropping out and pool the resources needed to change the trajectories of their lives. "I would rather do that and be successful with a few than to just throw up our hands and just say it's too big of a problem, we can't do it," she said. "What we would like to do is find out what successes are taking place around the state -and there are some very successful programs - to identify those children at risk and then to try to give them the resources they need so they can complete their high school diploma."
Consider the consequences of failing to get that diploma: even when dropouts are employed, they earn significantly lower wages than graduates. On average, Kentucky high school dropouts earn about $6,800 less each year than high school graduates. Crime rates soar among dropouts. And people who leave high school without graduating typically are not as healthy and often do not enjoy the lifespan of those who do obtain their diplomas. And states and communities whose populations have lower educational levels wind up spending more on social programs, even as their tax revenues, depressed in part by the presence of a marginally educated workforce, are stretched to the limits. State and local economies with less-educated workforces lose out in the hot competition to attract new business investment.
Viewed from a national perspective, it's easy to understand why General Powell describes the American dropout rate as a catastrophe. The nation's economy and competitive standing suffer dearly when high dropout rates reach current levels. Among developed countries, the United States ranks only eighteenth in high school graduation rates and fifteenth in college graduation rates, according to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
Census Bureau statistics place the average income of a high school dropout at barely over $17,000, while the average for those who earned a diploma falls just below $27,000. The average for an American who has earned a bachelor's degree tops $52,000.
"We know that one class of dropouts, those 1.3 million kids, we know they're going to cost this country around $329 billion dollars in lost wages, taxes and revenue over their lifetime. That's a lot of money," said Colleen Wilber, a spokeswoman for Powell's organization. "We know that those young people are not living up to their potential, and we know that these young people are on social services, such as food stamps and the like."
Many students living in today's society tell dropout researchers they need to see concrete connections between what they are learning in the classroom and the need in the world for that information. Difficulty in comprehending a relationship between algebra or social studies and the demands of real life often contributes to an impulsive and eventually regretted decision to walk away from school.
"We're looking for a way for these students to find relevance in what they're studying - that there's some connection to a future that's contained within what they're studying, that there are some kinds of relationships," noted State Education Cabinet Secretary Helen Mountjoy. "Some students leave school because they have to assume family responsibilities, and not just for children they have borne themselves. Sometimes it's for siblings. Sometimes it's for a parent who is sick and they have been put out of work. There are a lot of different social agencies, a lot of different social clubs, a lot of different resources that can be brought to the table."
Kentucky is a relatively poor state, and its revenues have taken serious hits in the down economy. Mountjoy recognizes the challenge this presents to strapped public school systems and counsels looking elsewhere for solutions. "If we look at it as a community issue and not as a school issue, yes, we have the resources," she said. "There are some wonderful programs that will be highlighted at the summit that will show what some service clubs have done, what some private foundations have done, what some churches have done, (and) what some judges have done in trying to reach out to the people in their communities to try to address this problem head on."
And what businesses have done and can do. Young people who walk away from high school ill-prepared for the workforce are a cost issue for business, according to the Powell organization's Wilber. "They're going to have to spend more money either on remedial training, or they're just not going to find the crop of talent that they're looking for. Where we think the business community can play a role is in helping young people understand the value of school work and how it translates into the real world. Serving as business mentors, being that caring adult, being involved in the community are key roles."
Children's Defense Fund founder and President Marian Wright Edelman, for more than 40 years a leading voice for children and youth across the nation, will be the summit's keynote speaker on the evening of September 11. Plans also call for a conversation with Gov. Steve Beshear and other state and education leaders, a student panel and breakout sessions on best practices.
In addition to the September gathering in Frankfort, five regional summits are planned for the spring of 2010.
Information is available online for businesses, students, parents, schools and communities interested in joining the dropout prevention campaign.
The Web site www.graduate.ky.gov offers success stories, dropout data, tips for dropout prevention and registration information for the dropout prevention summit.