Equity Symposium to Present Research

Video

Just about everyone preaches the value of staying in school.  But what,
exactly, is that value?  On October 24 and 25, at the first annual
Teachers College Symposium on Educational Equity, a group of 12 leading
economists and other social scientists will present some eye-opening
answers.  For example, one study conservatively estimates that for just
one person, the lifetime earnings loss associated with dropping out of
high school is $260,000.  A high school dropout will contribute just
under $100,000 less in lifetime income taxes than someone who has
earned a high school diploma.  For the current crop of 18-year-olds who
will never earn a high school degree, that computes to over $150
billion in aggregate lifetime earnings loss, and roughly $60 billion in
lost income tax revenues for society. 
"Aggregated over all high school dropouts age 18 to 67, the annual
losses in income taxes are likely over $84 billion-enough to fund No
Child Left Behind and other programs of the U.S. Department of
Education for a year," says the study's author, Cecilia Rouse,
Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School
of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. 
Titled "The Social Costs of Inadequate Education," the Symposium-to be
held at Columbia University's Alfred Lerner Hall-will be the first
major event conducted by The Campaign for Educational Equity, launched
at TC in June with the goal of working to close the achievement gap
between the nation's most advantaged and disadvantaged students.  Other
studies presented at the landmark two-day event will estimate what it
costs society-in terms of lost productivity, lost revenue, lost tax
base, increased burden on the criminal justice system, health care
system and public assistance, and reduced civic engagement-when
students fail to graduate from high school.  Some of the presenters will
also look at possible interventions that could raise the graduation
rate, and provide cost-benefit analyses of implementing those
interventions. 

And in a closing session, Michael A. Rebell, Executive Director of the
Campaign for Educational Equity, will summarize action proposals culled
from the audience during special lunchtime breakout sessions, and then
lead an interactive plenary discussion aimed at developing a specific
agenda for follow-up action. 

"We live in age when it seems that altruistic arguments aren't
sufficient to persuade society to invest in educational equity," said
Henry Levin, TC's William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and
Education, who is chairing the Symposium. " Many people will only be
swayed by a sound business case.  We believe the research presented at
our Symposium will make that case by showing Americans what all of us
pay over the long-term when we fail to educate other people's
children." 

For example, Levin, together with a team of researchers, has evaluated
interventions that would improve the rate of high school graduation for
black males.  He will provide estimates of the cost of implementing such
interventions on a national scale and compare those costs with
estimated benefits of reduced costs of health care and crime and
increased income and taxes. 
The other presenters are:

Richard Rothstein, Tisch Visiting Professor at Teachers College,
former New York Times education columnist, Economic Policy Institute
fellow and author of Class and Schools.  He will present a statistical
overview of the extent of the educational equity gap and its
causes-many of which extend beyond the classroom. 

Enrico Moretti, University of California at Berkeley.  He will attempt
to quantify the potential effect on crime rates and crime costs of
boosting the number of high school graduates.  Taking into account the
costs of keeping more students in school through graduation, he finds
that cost savings to the criminal justice system associated with
increasing graduation rates for male students alone by just one percent
would run into the billions of dollars. 

Irwin Garfinkel, Jane Waldfogel and Brendan Kelly, Columbia
University School of Social Work.  What is the increased risk of being
on public assistance, food stamps or housing assistance associated with
failure to graduate from high school, and what is the additional cost
to taxpayers?  Each of these programs costs America roughly $30 billion
annually.  Working from data that includes the Current Population
Survey, the researchers anticipate that-based on preliminary
findings-public savings achieved simply by boosting graduation rates
could amount to many billions of dollars. 

Peter Muennig, Columbia School of Public Health: Many studies have
shown that increased education is clearly associated with better health
and longer life expectancy.  Working from several years of data from the
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (produced by the federal Agency for
Health Research and Quality), Muennig asks: What does the public pay
for increased use of public health facilities and insurance associated
with poor education, and what is the cost of the less healthful
lifestyles of those who are less well educated? 

"To truly improve the chances of low-income children to succeed in
school and thus in society, we need interventions that are much broader
in scope, addressing home life, health and school quality.  But to do
this right, we also have to spend a lot of money, so it's important to
know how much we are going to get back in terms of a healthier, more
productive and more socially responsible citizenry," Muennig said. 

Ronald Ferguson, Harvard/Kennedy School of Government.  Ferguson
summarizes the major (and often competing) schools of thought about how
to reduce the educational equity gap and its costs, providing examples
from research about the impact of the different policies. " No single
strand of policy or practice stands out head and shoulders above the
rest-each major perspective has something to contribute," Ferguson
said. " Our biggest challenge is to try to integrate all of these
approaches and reduce wasted energy in political battles for the moral
high ground." 

Other speakers at the Symposium will include Laurie Tisch, Board Chair
of The Campaign for Educational Equity, and TC President Arthur Levine. 
On Wednesday, October 26, a smaller gathering of policymakers,
legislators, foundation heads, business leaders and others will review
findings from the Symposium-as well as the policy recommendations
presented by Rebell-and attempt to fashion a detailed action agenda
based on the Symposium's major findings. 

"Our goal, as with all aspects of the Campaign, is to make things happen," says Rebell.  ³