Great Schools Change
Economics

This is about our bottom line and our future as a prosperous country. McKinsey & Company found in a 2009 report that America’s achievement gaps “impose on the United States the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession.” If the gap between the academic performance of low-income students and their wealthier peers were closed, GDP in 2008 would have been $400 billion to $670 billion higher, or three to five percent of GDP. College graduates can expect to earn, on average, nearly a million dollars more over their lifetimes than high school graduates. Great schools can rebuild our economy and put the next generation on a prosperous path once again.

Great Schools Change
America’s Standing

Thirty years ago, the United States was the world leader in educational attainment, but the United States has fallen to 18th of 26 industrialized countries in the proportion of students who graduate from high school and 14th out of 26 in the proportion of adults with college degrees. American fifteen-year-olds rank 14th of 34 industrialized countries in reading literacy, 17th of 34 countries in science, and 25th of 34 countries in mathematics literacy. Great schools are what propelled America forward in the last century and they are what will propel us forward again in this one.