Build Schools, Not Prisons!

The costs of high school dropouts to society are shocking--from higher Medicaid and Medicare costs to lost tax revenues to high incarceration rates. Even more shocking is the high dropout rate of students of diversity and the resulting poor health, poverty, and imprisonment rates.

The good news, according to Hank Levin of Teachers College, Columbia University, is that when you invest in highly effective educational programs, the benefits to society (in increased tax revenues and decreases in public medical services and incarceration) far exceed the costs of such programs. And which programs are the best? Now, that's the question.

The Brookings Institute has released a study in which only five interventions were highly effective in producing "additional graduates"--that is, in reducing the dropout rate. Would you be surprised to hear that three of these interventions are early childhood education programs, serving children from preschool to 3rd grade? Would you be interested to know that teacher salary increases is one of these five interventions?

The other highly effective intervention is a high school program called First Things First--a comprehensive program that includes small learning comunities, personalized learning, more counselors, and less teacher turnover. The complete report can be found on this Web site.