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Who Is Leaving School?




In 2004, 10.3 percent of all 16- to 24-year-old Americans left school without any kind of a high school completion credential. Who are these students? Some of them never reached high school. Some of them were born outside the United States and may have dropped out of school in another country. The reasons why they left school vary, but here is a breakdown by gender and ethnicity:

    • Male: 11.6 percent
    • Female: 9.0 percent
    • White: 6.8 percent
    • African American: 11.8 percent
    • Hispanic: 23.8 percent
Source: Dropout Rates in the United States: 2004. Laird, J., DeBell, M., & Chapman, C. National Center for Education Statistics, 2006. 

What Is NEA Doing About the Dropout Problem at the National Level? What Are Educators Doing About It?