Researchers Tally Costs of Education Failings

The United States could recoup nearly $200 billion a year in economic losses and secure its place as the world’s future economic and educational leader by raising the quality of schooling, investing more money and other resources in education, and lowering dropout rates, scholars argued here last week.

Researchers presented evidence at a symposium held at Columbia University that the nation’s health-care, crime, and welfare costs could be devastating in the decades to come if the inadequate schooling received by too many American students isn’t vastly improved.

“If we take that long to make the grade, … the United States may be a colony of China by that time,” said Michael A. Rebell, the executive director of the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University and the lead lawyer in a lawsuit seeking more state aid for New York City schools. The Oct. 24-25 conference here inaugurated...

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