The results often are disastrous. Consider, for example, the high-school dropout rate, which relates to poverty in adult life. While the national dropout rate from 1985 to 1996 fell by 9 percent, Oregon's rate soared by 33 percent. The rate in Portland Public Schools is 40 percent, according to the state Department of Education. The department's study shows that most students who dropped out already had fallen far behind grade level, often as much as 2 or 3 years, which signals that important turning points are as likely to be found in the dropout's elementary and middle school years as in high school.
Dropouts face a statistically scary future.
Single parenthood, especially among teens, and having a police record are large barriers to employment and, therefore, big factors in poverty. The rest of the state is poorer, too, when students quit school. Every notch in the dropout rate represents lost tax revenue, reduced participation in political and civic life, and a step back for the next generation in the dropout's family. At the same time, taxpayer costs increase for social services and crime. Many factors are linked to the dropout rate.