Op Ed article

Economic Woes Likely to Increase Dropout Rates

By:  Linda R Harrill, President/CEO, Communities In Schools of NC

The dismal economic news is daunting.  Every day we hear about more job layoffs.  Every day more adults are out of work. We need to be aware of the effect this has on children as well as on adults.

In North Carolina alone, over 39,000 children will be displaced because of the mortgage crisis.  This means children may have to leave their neighborhoods and schools, moving away from family and friends.  Research suggests that moving during adolescent years has a negative impact on a child's academic and social well being.  Younger children tend to adapt to new schools and new environments more readily than older youth.  When the world is changing around them, the loss of a sense of community can be devastating for adolescents.  Children without a strong, positive peer group are more likely to fall into whatever peer group that is most accepting, often the group of students who are themselves feeling loss and are without sense of purpose.  Normal adolescence is a challenging time for even the most stable families, but adding the stress of job loss or change of lifestyle and economic worries increases the risk of a child engaging in risky behaviors such as drugs and sex, and increases the chance of experiencing mental health issues.

With the loss of jobs comes the loss of health insurance in many cases.  Students without health insurance are much less likely to go to the doctor and seek medical help.  Since most school attendance policies require a doctor’s note for an excused, even legitimate absence, the numbers of unexcused absences are likely to increase.  In many school districts the primary reason for suspension from school and school failure is poor attendance.  Students who are given unexcused absences and fail are much more likely to drop out of school.

We are already seeing evidence that younger children are being asked to take part-time jobs to help cover the basic costs of food, clothing and shelter, another sad by-product of the economic tsunami that has hit North Carolina.  Older siblings are often asked to stay home and take care of younger siblings because parents cannot afford to miss a day of work or pay for childcare.  Some older youth will feel they must drop out of school to get a job.  They believe they must financially help their families now.  Most young adults do not make decisions based on long-term outcomes but rather react to the immediate future. 

Many parents are not aware of the strict attendance policies of schools, assuming their children can make up missed work, but in most cases students are not allowed make up work missed as the result of an unexcused absence.  Ten days out of school with unexcused absences is a ticket to failure.  North Carolina had over 80,000 students retained in grade last year.  It is an enormous challenge for schools to catch them up. 

Communities In Schools has recommended funding graduation coaches in the most distressed middle and high schools.  If approved, these full-time staff members will help remove barriers that are keeping our children from graduating from high school. Their job will be to work with individual students and families to keep children coming to school and on track to graduate.  While the economy and certainly the state budget is uncertain, we must continue to invest in our children, our future workforce, so that when the economy does rebound, our children have become the skilled and educated workers who can fill the jobs a revitalized economy will produce.  We simply cannot afford to continue to see our graduation rates decline at a time when the demands of the 21st century workplace and our future economic viability depends on a state with a well educated, well prepared workforce.  Improving the graduation rate from high school is not just an education issue; it is an economic stimulus issue.  If we do nothing we will continue to see dropout rates increase.  We cannot afford the future bailouts a nation of young people who are uneducated, unskilled and unprepared for the future will require.