Purpose: The purpose of this research brief was to examine the economic costs of incarceration versus education in the juvenile population in Tennessee. Methodology: State and national level data was reviewed in terms of the economic and social costs associated with incarcerating versus educating juveniles. Disparity rates between…

Few people realize the impact that high school dropouts have on a community's economic, social, and civic health. Business owners and residents--in particular, those without school-aged children--may not be aware that they have much at stake in the success of their local high schools. Indeed, everyone--from car dealers and realtors to bank…

High school dropouts adversely impact the state of Tennessee each year--financially and socially. Dropouts' lower incomes, high unemployment rates, increased need for medical care, and higher propensity for incarceration create a virtual vortex that consumes Tennesseans' tax dollars at a vicious rate. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on…

High dropout rates continue to be a silent epidemic afflicting the nation's schools. Although some measurable progress is being made in some school districts and states to raise high school graduation rates, and federal, state, and local policies and practices are changing to meet the dropout challenge, the nation's progress is too slow and the…

This report presents the deliberations of the Appalachia Regional Advisory Committee (Appalachia RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. sections 9601 et. seq.) to assess the educational needs of the region. The Committee's report outlines the educational needs across the four states of…

Nearly 7,000 students drop out of the nation's public high schools each school day, and 3,000 of them are in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states. Altogether, an estimated 1.3 million teenagers in the United States abandon high school each year without earning a diploma. In 1,700 of the nation's high schools, less than 60 percent of…

High schools that enable educators to nurture the distinctive interests and talents of all groups of students can help more students stay in school and find the motivation to prepare for college and careers. By implementing six clear-cut ideas, or conditions, that evidence shows can lead more students to success, schools and communities can…

Graduation rates are a fundamental indicator of whether or not the nation's public school system is doing what it is intended to do: enroll, engage, and educate youth to be productive members of society. Since almost 90 percent of the fastest-growing and highest-paying jobs require some postsecondary education, having a high school diploma and the…