• The average high school drop-out will cost taxpayers over $292,000 in lower tax revenues, higher cash and in-kind transfer costs, and imposed incarceration costs relative to an average high school graduate. It is estimated that there will be 6.2 million high school dropouts between ages 16-24, at a cost to our economy of nearly $1.8 trillion.
• Lack of early reading proficiency prevents learning in other subjects. Students who do not read proficiently by 3^rd grade are four times more likely to leave high school without a diploma than proficient readers, according to a study over time of nearly 4,000 students nationally.   The statistics are even worse for low-income and minority children who don’t read well.

Children Living in Poverty

• More than 28 million children live in low-income families.  Low income is defined as wages of less than  $42,400 for a family of four.
• 1 in 5 children live in poverty.
• Children comprise 36 percent of all people living in poverty. (October 2010)
• 42 percent of children ages 6 through 11 years  live in low-income family – representing 10.3 million children
• 38 percent of children ages 12 through 17 years live in low-income families – representing 9.3 million children

The Achievement Gap

Click here to learn about The Achievement Gap

• The achievement gap between low-income children and their more affluent peers is already 6 months by kindergarten and, without intervention, will continue to widen to nearly three years by fifth grade.
• Children who fall into the achievement gap:
  • Continue to drop further behind each year
  • Are 6 times more likely to drop out of high school
  • Have a 51% chance of being unemployed