Colorado's Crisis
Last year in Colorado, 16,126 students who should have graduated from our high schools failed to take this critical step into adulthood. We rank 34th out of the 50 states in the number of high-school dropouts; nearly one in three of our children will not graduate.
Only 22% of Colorado 9th graders will graduate from high school on time, enter college, and graduate from college within six years
In our inner-cities, the story is bleaker still.
The Denver Public Schools low-income graduation rate is just 49%. Hispanics, the largest minority group in DPS, have a graduation rate of less than 40%.
Of the 50 largest cities in the country, the graduation gap between urban and suburban areas of Denver is fifth highest in the nation. The graduation rate in Denver is 49%, while the graduation rate in nearby Douglas County is 91%; 86% in Boulder and 77% in Jefferson.
In Aurora, just 57% of low-income children earn a diploma.
The bottom line? A recent projection concluded that if current state education policies go unchanged, the Colorado work force of 2020 will be less educated than today's work force. As a result, the state's per capita income will not just stagnate, it will actually decline.
But there is a solution.
Only 22% of Colorado 9th graders will graduate from high school on time, enter college, and graduate from college within six years
In our inner-cities, the story is bleaker still.
The Denver Public Schools low-income graduation rate is just 49%. Hispanics, the largest minority group in DPS, have a graduation rate of less than 40%.
Of the 50 largest cities in the country, the graduation gap between urban and suburban areas of Denver is fifth highest in the nation. The graduation rate in Denver is 49%, while the graduation rate in nearby Douglas County is 91%; 86% in Boulder and 77% in Jefferson.
In Aurora, just 57% of low-income children earn a diploma.
The bottom line? A recent projection concluded that if current state education policies go unchanged, the Colorado work force of 2020 will be less educated than today's work force. As a result, the state's per capita income will not just stagnate, it will actually decline.
But there is a solution.
