Posted January 3, 2011 8:13 a.m.

The York Dispatch OP-ED: Helping students stay in school helps us all Updated: 12/17/2010

We all know that dropping out of high school is a bad idea. We all know that it is harder to succeed in life if you drop out. So why have graduation rates throughout the United States remained relatively unchanged in the last 30 years?

While there is no single reason why students drop out, research indicates that difficult transitions to high school, academic deficiencies and long-term disengagement that can begin in early childhood are common risk factors. Students whose academic, social service and basic life needs are not met often succumb, even though they might be bright and capable of achieving in school.

According the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), it is estimated that one in 10 to one in five Pennsylvania students will not graduate within four years. One in five ninth-graders fail to graduate from high school; two in five minority students fail to graduate on time; and 170 students drop out each day. Truancy courts in urban areas around the state are seeing high numbers of cases.

The impacts on our communities are staggering. School dropouts earn half as much annual income as high school graduates; half of our prison populations are dropouts. Half of the heads of households on welfare are high school dropouts. High school dropouts will earn $292,000 less than a high school graduate over their lifetimes.

The easy answer is to hold parents accountable — send them in front of a judge and make them send their kids to school. But truancy is only a symptom of a larger problem.

For too long our communities have used the excuse that there isn’t enough funding or enough time to help at-risk students succeed. But we have lost sight of the long-term costs to society. We all suffer when a student falls through the cracks and drops out of high school. According to the state’s truancy task force, students who drop out are eight times more likely to wind up in jail or prison.

So what is the solution?

We know that students dropout for different reasons. We know that students do best when we provide them with the five basic things they need to succeed: a one-on-one caring relationship with an adult; a safe place to learn and grow; a healthy start and a healthy future; a marketable skill to use upon graduation; and chance to give back to peers and community. We have seen in Pennsylvania that students can succeed and stay in school if we take the time to find out why they are at risk and provide them with these five things to help them see the benefits of graduation.

We have an opportunity to identify at-risk students early in their academic careers and begin working with them to help them succeed. According to PSEA, certain traits of a dropout-prone student may be visible as early as the third grade.

The bottom line is we need to invest in these students. We need to put education funding toward programs that cater to the individual’s needs and provide them with the tools to grow and learn. We need to support community efforts that prevent truancy in the first place. We need to give students hope that staying in school will mean a better life for them and their families.

They are depending on us to help them, and our communities cannot succeed unless they do. A study from the National Education Association found that high school dropouts are more likely to suffer from a disability and to die prematurely from cardiovascular disease, cancer, infection, injury or diabetes than high school graduates. And there are nearly 120,000 high school dropouts ages 16 to 24 who cost state, local and federal governments money through lost revenue, increased crime and social spending on government programs. In fact if all single mothers obtained at least a high school education, the annual cost savings would be $3.8 billion.

When we take the time and invest in these children, we increase the likelihood that they will make positive life choices, succeed academically and finish school prepared to become productive members of society.

— Nathan Mains is presi dent and state director of Com munities and Schools in Pennsylvania, a dropout-pre vention organization. For more information, see: nomoredropouts.org.