Study Links Dropout Rate With Course Requirements
Increasing the number of course credits high school students are required to take raises the dropout rate between 3 percent and 7 percent a year, according to a report by economists at Cornell University and the University of Michigan.
The researchers estimate that the higher attrition rates could mean an additional 65,000 high school dropouts annually, potentially resulting in poorer job prospects and lower lifetime earnings for those students.
The findings raise a cautionary flag for states moving to raise standards for high school graduation. Since the early 1980s, a majority of states have increased the number of academic credits required to graduate from high school. By 2003, 26 states also will have tests that students must pass...
This article is available to subscribers only.
To keep reading this article and more, subscribe now or purchase this article.
Subscribe to Education Week and Save
Get a full year and save up to 45%!
Viewed
Emailed
Recommended
Commented
- K-8 Principal
- EdVantages/Performance Academies, Detroit, MI
- Principals
- Prince George's County Public Schools, MD
- Elementary School Teacher
- Success Academy Charter Schools, New York, NY
- 2 Positions -Associate Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer, and Director of Human of Resources
- Washington County Public Schools, Hagerstown, MD
- Program Coordinator
- Institute for Educational Advancement, South Pasadena, CA
