Overview

It is widely accepted that completing high school is a significant milestone in a student's life. High school graduates are more likely to be successful in college and careers and become productive and engaged citizens. There are lifelong negative impacts for students who do not complete their high school education, as they struggle with high rates of unemployment, poverty and delinquency.

Students who do not finish high school will earn about $8,000 a year less than high school graduates and approximately $26,500 a year less than college graduates. With higher levels of educational attainment, there tends to be higher rates of participation in the workforce and higher earning potential.

Learning more about the issue of dropout provides greater capacity to address it.   Answering important questions such as: 

• How drop out is defined locally vs. nationally?
• How dropout rates are measured locally vs. nationally?
• What are the impacts if this issue is not addressed?
• What strategies are most successful in keeping youth on track to graduate?

The good news?  Resources, data and research exists to support schools and districts in reducing dropout and in turn, build socially and economically healthy communities.  

Resources

Best Practice Guide for Dropout Prevention References

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) annually reports disaggregated data at the school, district and state level on the percent of students who complete high school. CDE publically reports graduation, completion and still enrolled rates to provide a detailed picture of high school credential attainment in the state.