Cities in Crisis 2009: Closing the Graduation Gap   prepared for America’s Promise Alliance by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, shows that despite some progress made by several cities from 1995-2005, the average graduation rate of the 50 largest cities is well below the national average of 71%, and there remains an 18 percentage point urban suburban gap. Cities in Crisis 2009 finds that only about half (53%) of all young people in the nation’s 50 largest cities are graduating from high school on time. Cities in Crisis 2009 was released on April 22 as a follow-up to the original Cities in Crisis report released in April 2008.

Cities that saw the greatest improvement in graduation rates include Philadelphia, Pa. (23 percentage points); Tucson, Ariz. (23 percentage points); Kansas City, Mo. (20 percentage points); El Paso, Tex. (14 percent percentage points); Portland, Ore. (13 percentage points); and New York City (13 percentage points). Other cities with an increase of 10 or more percentage points in graduation rates were Atlanta, Ga.; Austin, Tex.; Columbus, Oh.; Dallas, Tex.; Fort Worth, Tex.; Mesa, Ariz.; and Miami, Fla. Still, nineteen of the country’s 50 largest cities have seen the graduation rate at their principal school district decline within the last decade. Those with the greatest decrease in graduation rates include Las Vegas, Nev. (-23 percentage points); Wichita, Kan. (-18 percentage points); Omaha, Neb. (-15 percentage points); Arlington, Tex. (-12 percentage points); Albuquerque, N.M. (-7 percentage points); and San Francisco, CA (-7 percentage points).

Nationwide, nearly one in three U.S. high school students fails to graduate with a diploma. In total, approximately 1.2 million students drop out each year — averaging 7,000 every school day or one every 26 seconds. Among minority students, the problem is even more severe with nearly 50 percent of African American and Hispanic students not completing high school on time.

Cities in Crisis 2009: Closing the Graduation Gap also looked at the economic and employment landscape for those with varied educational levels, including those without a high school diploma. It revealed that those who drop out of high school are less likely to be steadily employed, and earn less income when they are employed, compared with those who graduate from high school. Approximately one-third (37 percent) of high school dropouts nationwide are steadily employed and are more than twice as likely to live in poverty.

The report revealed that high school dropouts account for 13 percent of the adult population, but earn less than six percent of all dollars earned in the U.S. In the 50 largest cities, the median income for high school dropouts is $14,000 — significantly lower than the median income of $24,000 for high school graduates and $48,000 for college graduates. Nationally, high school dropouts were also the only group of workers who saw income levels decline over the last 30 years.

The report, funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, analyzes school district data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data (2004-05). The country’s 50 largest cities were identified using 2006 data from the U.S. Census Bureau and economic and employment conditions were gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 American Community Survey.

Other Report Findings:

Other findings of the analysis released today include:

• Sixteen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had a graduation rate lower than 50 percent in the principal school district serving the city
• Those with the lowest graduation rates include Indianapolis (31 percent), Cleveland (34 percent), Detroit (38 percent), Milwaukee (41 percent), Baltimore (41 percent), Atlanta (44 percent), Los Angeles (44 percent), Las Vegas (45 percent), and Columbus (45 percent).
• Students in the suburban areas of the nation’s 50 largest cities were considerably more likely to graduate (77 percent) than students in the country’s urban schools (59 percent)
• Cities with the largest gap between their suburban and urban schools include Cleveland (43 percent), Baltimore (39 percent), Columbus (38 percent), Milwaukee (35 percent), and Nashville (33 percent)

What is being said about Cities in Crisis 2009:

“The ten-year graduation rates show that progress is being made in some of America’s largest cities, but significant work remains. In order to continue to move forward and make the U.S. competitive in today’s global economy, we must work together like never before to provide the supports that young people need in order to graduate high school ready for college, work, and life.” — Alma Powell, chair of America’s Promise Alliance, which was founded in 1997 with her husband, Gen. Colin Powell as its founding chair

"As the president said, every young person who drops out of high school is not only quitting on himself but is also quitting on his country. Similarly, every high school dropout represents not only a failure on the part of a school and an individual, but a larger failure of society to lead our children to success in education.”  — Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

“Research is clear about what helps kids stay in school and as we’ve all come to realize with the current economic crisis, investing in education is not only an essential part of improving graduation rates, but of supporting meaningful economic recovery. Our government has shown bold leadership in elevating education, but this means the real work must begin now. We must seize this historic moment and make sure that young people are surrounded by strong support systems, caring teachers, proper nutrition, a safe place to learn and be after school, and opportunities to give back to others. Learning from the example set forth by our summits, we know that by working together we can make sure our children graduate with the skills they need to succeed.”  — Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO, America’s Promise Alliance

Changes in Graduation Rates for the Main School Systems in the Nation’s 50 Largest Cities  

City	Principal School District	Graduation Rate (Class of 2005)	Graduation Rate (Class of 1995)	Change (Percentage Points)
Philadelphia	Philadelphia City School District	62.1%	38.9%	+23.2
Tucson	Tucson Unified District	71.6%	48.9%	+22.7
Kansas City	Kansas City School District	53.5%	33.6%	+19.7
El Paso	El Paso ISA	60.6%	46.6%	+13.9
Portland, Ore.	Portland School District	68.6%	55.4%	+13.1
New York	New York City Public Schools	50.5%	37.8%	+12.8
Dallas	Dallas ISD	50.8%	38.2%	+12.7
Columbus	Columbus Public Schools	44.7%	32.1%	+12.6
Mesa	Mesa Unified District	76.6%	64.6%	+12.0
Austin	Austin ISD	58.9%	47.5%	+11.5
Atlanta	Atlanta City School District	43.5%	32.8%	+10.8
Fort Worth	Fort Worth ISD	56.5%	46.1%	+10.4
Miami	Dade County School District	55.9%	5.6%	+10.4
Houston	Houston ISD	52.9%	43.1%	+9.8
Chicago	City of Chicago School District	51.0%	41.8%	+9.2
Oakland, Calif.	Oakland Unified	50.5%	41.3%	+9.2
Virginia Beach	Virginia Beach City Public Schools	68.5%	59.7%	+8.8
Baltimore	Baltimore City Public School System	41.5%	33.8%	+7.7
Denver	Denver County School District	58.6%	51.7%	+6.9
Detroit	Detroit City School District	37.5%	30.5%	+6.9
San Antonio	San Antonio ISD	47.3%	40.9%	+6.4
Phoenix	Phoenix Union High School District	58.0%	52.4%	+5.6
Indianapolis	Indianapolis Public Schools	30.5%	25.2%	+5.3
Oklahoma City	Oklahoma City Public Schools	47.0%	41.7%	+5.3
Milwaukee	Milwaukee Public Schools	41.0%	35.8%	+5.2
Sacramento	Sacramento City Unified	62.1%	57.2%	+4.9
District of Columbia	District of Columbia Public Schools	57.6%	52.8%	+4.8
Colorado Springs	Colorado Springs School District	68.8%	64.1%	+4.6
Honolulu	Hawaii Department of Education	67.4%	63.7%	+3.6
Nashville	Nashville-Davidson Co. School District	45.2%	42.0%	+3.1
Jacksonville	Duval County School District	50.8%	50.2%	+0.7
Louisville	Jefferson County School District	63.4%	63.7%	-0.3
Seattle	Seattle School District	68.9%	69.6%	-0.7
Memphis	Memphis City School District	51.2%	52.5%	-1.2
Fresno	Fresno Unified	51.9%	53.4%	-1.5
Boston	Boston Public Schools	58.6%	60.3%	-1.7
Minneapolis	Minneapolis Public Schools	45.3%	47.0%	-1.7
San Jose	San Jose Unified	73.3%	75.0%	-1.8
Tulsa	Tulsa Public Schools	48.5%	50.6%	-2.0
Charlotte	Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools	60.5%	62.7%	-2.3
San Diego	San Diego Unified	63.7%	66.0%	-2.4
Los Angeles	Los Angeles Unified	44.4%	48.0%	-3.6
Long Beach	Long Beach Unified	64.0%	67.7%	-3.7
Cleveland	Cleveland Municipal City School District	34.4%	39.3%	-4.9
San Francisco	San Francisco Unified	57.1%	63.6%	-6.5
Albuquerque	Albuquerque Public Schools	49.0%	55.6%	-6.6
Arlington, Tex.	Arlington ISD	60.3%	72.0%	-11.6
Omaha	Omaha Public Schools	49.6%	64.4%	-14.8
Wichita	Wichita Public Schools	54.5%	72.1%	-17.6
Las Vegas	Clark County School District	44.5%	67.6%	-23.1
50-City Average		52.8%	48.3%	+4.4
National Average		70.6%	65.8%	+4.8

NOTE: Graduation rates are calculated using the Cumulative Promotion Index method with data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data. Rankings are based on non-rounded statistics. SOURCE: EPE Research Center, 2008