The disappointing consequences: Poorly prepared students -- particularly those who drop out -- cost themselves and cost the state billions for the rest of their lives.

Census data shows that a dropout typically earns 50 percent less than a high school graduate -- $22,000 per year compared to $31,000 per year.

For the rest of North Carolina, that means a smaller tax contribution over a dropout's working life. Dropouts tend to mean higher costs for health care, public assistance and law enforcement. A dropout costs society $127,000 more than a graduate over his working years. So North Carolina's dropouts each year start draining $2.9 billion that the state will pay over the next 40 years.

The picture doesn't have to be this bleak. An emerging body of research is beginning to shed more light on the school experiences of dropouts and the reasons why so many students choose not to complete high school. Among the largest was a study called The Silent Epidemic that involved interviews with more than 500 dropouts in 25 cities, suburbs and small towns across the United States. That report paints a startling portrait -- most dropouts "are students who could have, and believe they could have, succeeded in school." While some of these students left school because they were struggling academically, many left because of either personal issues or a lack of connection to school.

The bottom line: Investing in innovative high schools that can engage students in learning and that can support students who show early warnings such as poor attendance make sense.

Read NCNSP's issue brief "What About the Other Third?: A Closer Look at High School Dropouts.

	See the graduation rate of high schools in your community >>>
	Watch the MTV documentary "The Dropout Chronicles"