Political Quotes

“forty years ago, the U.S. was number one in the world in high school graduation rates. Today it ranks 17th. About 1/3 of the students who enter 9th grade each fall will not graduate from high school with four years, if at all. High school students living in low-income families drop out of school at six times the rate of their peers from high-income families. Drop out rates are especially high in communities of color: Only about 55 percent of African American students and 52 percent of Hispanic students graduate on time from high school with a regular diploma, compared to 78 percent of white students. In my district, in Oakland, the graduation rates for African American males is 26 percent, compared to 57 percent is the graduation rate for white males. In this country, there are about 2,000 high schools that produce the majority of dropouts. Six million students throughout America are currently at risk of dropping out of school. Students who fail to graduate from high school are more likely to participate in criminal activity than students who do graduate. Likewise, students with low levels of achievement in high school are more likely to engage in crime than students with high levels of achievement.”