The dropout rate in Baltimore, where only 34 percent of public high school students graduate, ranks fourth-worst among big cities in the United States, a new report reveals.
In addition, the disparity between the graduation rates in Baltimore and its suburbs was the largest in the nation, according to a report released today by the nonprofit America?s Promise Alliance, which studied 2003-2004 graduation rates for the 50 largest school districts.
The Alliance, founded by Gen. Colin Powell and chaired by his wife, Alma Powell, to improve the lives of children, has done research showing that half of all students in the biggest school systems don?t earn a diploma.
“When more than one million students a year drop out of high school, it?s more than a problem, it?s a catastrophe,” Colin Powell said in a statement.
“Our economic and national security are at risk when we fail to educate the leaders and the work force of the future. It?s time for a national ?call to arms,? because we cannot afford to let nearly one-third of our kids fail.”
City schools chief Andres Alonso has started a major overhaul of the school system, including cutting positions from central headquarters, directing more funding to schools, allowing principals more control over their per-pupil spending and opening five career- and college-themed middle-high schools this fall.
“Nothing is more important than ensuring that our children stay in school and graduate ready for college and the work world,” Alonso wrote in an e-mail to The Examiner.
“Everything that we are doing right now in looking at the system, at schools, at how we operate and what new institutions we create is geared toward keeping our students in schools and making it possible for them to succeed.”
At 77.1 percent, Mesa, Ariz., boasted the best graduation rate among the 50 largest school districts. The national average is 69.9 percent.
Nationally, 1.2 million students drop out each year ? about 7,000 every school day ? or one every 26 seconds. High school dropouts from the Class of 2006-2007 will cost the United States more than $329 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes.
