Recent research disseminated in a report by America’s Promise Alliance makes it clear that the United States is in the midst of a high school drop-out crisis of staggering proportions. The details are alarming:
- Every 26 seconds another student gives up on school, resulting in more than one million American high school students who drop out every year.
- In urban public schools that serve primarily low income and Latino or African American youth, between 40% and 60% of entering freshman do not graduate from high school.
- Nationally, 40% of African American, 33% of Latino and 8% of Caucasian students attend a high school with a 40% or higher drop out rate.
In Chicago, public school students are at even greater risk than the national average:
- Only 52.2% of Chicago Public Schools students graduate from high school in four years.
- Only 38% of African-American males in Chicago earn a diploma compared to the national average of 48%.
- Only 35% of third graders and 37% of fifth graders in CPS were reading at grade level in 2006; in low-income areas the numbers drop to 29% and 31% respectively.
The consequences for these students of not graduating high school are well documented. High school dropouts are three times more likely than college graduates to be unemployed and eight times more likely to be in jail or prison than high school graduates. The cost of this crisis to America is clear: the more than 12 million students projected to drop out over the next decade will cost the nation about three trillion dollars in lost taxes, increased social services and crime related costs.
You can help break down these economic and educational barriers by joining City Year Chicago. As a tutor, mentor, and role model, you will work in schools in Chicago's high-need neighborhoods, providing the right interventions at the right time to help keep students in school and on track to graduate.