Iowa dropout rate climbs with more accurate counting

This from The Des Moines Register

...Last year was the first time all Iowa students were assigned an identification number, which likely provided the state with the most accurate numbers it has had.The data showed that Iowa's largest urban school districts - Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines and Waterloo - reported the highest percentage of dropouts. The majority of Iowa's rural and suburban districts reported no dropouts or significantly smaller numbers.

Nationally, 9.3 percent of high school students dropped out in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available...

...The stakes are high. A study by the nation's largest teachers' union showed dropouts earn about $260,000 less during their lives than high school graduates. A separate analysis estimated that dropouts from the class of 2006-07 will cost the United States more than $329 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes. That's why educators in school districts across the country say they are continuing to develop new programs aimed at lowering the dropout rate...