DROPOUTS
The equivalent of one high school student drops out every 26 seconds. "Dropouts from the class of 2008 will cost the nation more than $319 billion in lost wages over the course of their lifetimes (and for) Medicaid and expenditures for uninsured care over the course of those young people’s lifetimes. If U.S. high schools and colleges raised the graduation rates of Hispanic, African American, and Native American students to the levels of white students by 2020, the potential increase in personal income would add more than $310 billion to the U.S. economy. Increasing the graduation rate and college matriculation of male students in the United States by just 5 percent could lead to combined savings and revenue of almost $8 billion each year by reducing crime-related costs." Taken from "Every Student Counts," a study by
Alliance for Excellent Education, a group headed by Bob Wise, former Gov. of West Virginia.

TRANSFORMATION:
Compelling evidence shows that by transforming any organization into a collaborative democracy,there are significant gains in efficiency and sustainablility. Costs go down, so do turnovers, and morale goes up. The cost for transforming a school into a collaborative democracy is quite minimal and far less than the cost of all of the curriculum changes, standardized tests, and dropouts. Schools can be designed to work well for everyone. That's the premise of the free study
Crisis in School Management: Making Schools Work for Everyone Want to help take action? See the last chapter of the study for suggestions.