The High Cost of Student Disengagement
Reference back to an earlier post, Engagement Goes to School.
The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools, a new report from McKinsey & Company, predicts that the U.S. GDP would be $1.3-2.3 trillion higher if the achievement gap between the United States and its international peers were closed in 1998.
Check out the McKinsey report. $$$ is based on overall impact: “Avoidable shortfalls in academic achievement impose heavy and often tragic consequences, via lower earnings, poorer health, and higher rates of incarceration.”
If there is even a small degree of merit to McKinsey’s findings, this would indicate that key stakeholders of the education system, business and industry, stand to gain a good deal from pitching in to help right the academic ship. All politics and territorialism aside, and I agree those issues are not insignificant.
Engagement is part of the equation.
Right on! I have been in education for 20 years and I could not have stated it any better.
(from Craig–thanks, Scott. It helps a lot to hear from educators. It may appear as though I sometimes bash education and educators, but that’s not the case at all. We’re all in this together, and I truly believe in the old adage “don’t gripe about problems without offering solutions.”)
scottschaufele
April 24, 2009 at 12:17 am
[...] The High Cost of Student Disengagement? The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools, a McKinsey report, predicts that the U.S. GDP would be $1.3-2.3 trillion higher if the achievement gap between the United States and its international peers were closed in 1998. [...]
Roadmap: Engagement in the Education and Business Worlds « In Pursuit of Excellence
April 26, 2009 at 12:11 am