Press Release

The Civil Rights Project’s New Book Confronts the Dropout Crisis in America

Cambridge, MA--December 7, 2004--Many urban high schools have become “dropout factories” that send “hundreds of students off a figurative cliff” each year, according to a new book edited by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University entitled Dropouts in America: Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis. With President Bush and the nation's Governors committed to focusing on high schools in upcoming educational reform efforts, this book provides information essential to stemming the dangerously large numbers of students--disproportionately poor and minority--who flee our nation's schools before obtaining high school diplomas.

Nationally, only about two thirds of all students--and only half of all Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans--who enter ninth grade graduate with regular diplomas four years later. For minority males, these figures are far lower. "The consequences of not completing high school for these students and their communities is devastating," according to Gary Orfield, editor of the book and director of The Civil Rights Project. "Schools in some districts are literally hemorrhaging students. Halting this flow needs to be the top priority of any high school reform efforts. Yet, we continue to invest more funds incarcerating high school dropouts than in the programs that could keep them in school and out of trouble."

The dropout crisis has started to draw bi-partisan attention. Republican Governor Robert Taft of Ohio, along with Democratic Governor Mark Warner of Virginia, recently held a series of forums focused on reducing dropout rates. Said Taft, “We can’t afford to lose that human talent anymore.” Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts has called raising graduation rates across the country the key that can "unlock the American dream for literally millions of the nation's youth."

Dropouts in America is intended to reveal the full scope of this invisible crisis. Chapters review the most recent and accurate data on graduation and dropout rates, explore the reasons why so many young people drop out, and offer promising models and interventions for reducing dropout rates. They also discuss the role that the No Child Left Behind Act could play in reducing--or exacerbating--dropout rates.

Some studies also call into question the results of the central tenet of President Bush's proposed high school initiative: expanding test-based accountability. In particular, the growing practice of holding students back in ninth grade, often done to keep struggling students from taking a 10th grade high stakes test, has been shown to substantially increase the likelihood that those held back will drop out of school. An overemphasis on testing may also create perverse incentives for schools to "push out" low performers in order to keep aggregate test scores high. As Orfield states in his introduction: "It is no success for anyone if a school raises its average test scores by flunking out low-scoring students and ruining their futures."

Ultimately, authors of Dropouts in America maintain that the dropout crisis can be addressed, and remedied, if we can create political and public will to do so. A relatively small number of targeted interventions in each state could make a fairly dramatic difference, particularly for Black and Latino students. But we must first be willing to confront the full extent of the crisis and to develop a comprehensive strategy that includes not only high school reform but also collaborations with criminal justice systems, families, and health care and other support services. The scale of the problem is so vast and the costs to our economy, to our criminal justice system, and to the future of our families and communities, so high that leadership now is urgently needed.

Interviews will be available with the book’s authors, Gary Orfield and Dan Losen of The Civil Rights Project, Christopher Swanson of the Urban Institute, and Robert Balfanz of John Hopkins University, following a panel discussion organized by the Alliance for Excellent Education on Thursday, December 9 at the National Press Club. Contact Kim Fox at 617-496-6367 or Jennifer Blatz at 617-495-1898 to schedule interviews.

Press Contacts:

Kim Fox
617-496-6367

Jennifer Blatz
617-495-1898