A Washington-based education research and advocacy group is urging states to craft policies that raise high school graduation rates as a way to increase workers鈥� earnings and improve state economies.
An analysis by the Alliance for Excellent Education that was published in its April 11 newsletter Straight A鈥檚 found that some states could see earnings by residents increase by $100 million or more if they could cut in half the percentage of students who do not finish high school.
For example, assuming a 67 percent graduation rate for California鈥檚 class of 1998 and a high school graduate鈥檚 $7,200 in added annual earnings over a dropout鈥檚, the analysis says that California would see a total of $556 million more in annual worker earnings than if only half those students earned a diploma.
鈥淭here is an important connection between a state鈥檚 economic vitality and a state鈥檚 high school graduation rate,鈥� said Bob Wise, the group鈥檚 president and a former Democratic governor of West Virginia. A state-by-state analysis is available at .
