KPTS has joined other public media across the country in American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a public media initiative supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help local communities across America address the dropout crisis. The initiative builds on public media’s long-standing commitment to education by convening conversations and strengthening partnerships between public radio and television stations and local schools, businesses and community organizations to help students stay on the path to a high school diploma.

On average, only about 69 percent of America’s children graduate. Less than 60 percent of Latino, African American and Native Americans earn a high school diploma.

The economic impact of the 1.3 million children who dropped out of high school in 2010 amounts to a third of a trillion dollars over their lifetimes in lost wages, productivity and taxes. The median earnings for individuals who do not complete high school are $12,000 a year. Those who receive a high school diploma receive, on average, an additional $10,000 a year. According to children who have left school and those at risk, dropping out establishes almost an insurmountable obstacle course for life, depriving a person of both opportunity and hope. 

Local teachers offer their insight into the dropout crisis