Failure to graduate high school not only comes at a high cost to a student’s future but also to the entire community. Research published by Helios Education Foundation notes:

• 61 percent of all jobs in Arizona will require some training beyond high school by 2018. Arizona now increasingly competes with a global array of economic rivals. If it is to develop, attract and retain well paying, high-skill industries that will pay good wages and enhance the quality of life for all Arizonans, the state must have a critical mass of trained workers and the promise of more to come.
• Low educational achievement is usually linked to low-earning power. Less income means less purchasing power, which drags down overall economic growth and, consequently, tax revenues. Lower tax revenues means additional strains on state budgets and services.

The benefits of investing in education are just as dramatic. A report published by the Alliance for Excellent Education estimated what the economic benefits to Arizona’s economy if just half of the students who dropped out of high school had graduated. Our state could realize:

• $357 million increase in home sales
• $14 million increase in annual auto sales
• 700 new jobs and a $161 million increase in the gross state product
• $11 million increase in annual state tax revenue

The report also states if Arizona’s high schools were to graduate all students ready for college, the state would likely save as much as $132 million in college remedial education costs and lost earnings.

Destination Graduation is an innovative strategy to identify students who are at risk of dropping out of high school and intervene early, particularly in the middle grades where intervention has the greatest long-term impact.

The program looks at three early warning indicators that a student is falling behind: attendance, behavior, and failure in Math or English.

One-to-one mentors and volunteer classroom advisors provide guidance to keep students on track, while student progress is consistently monitored. The districts, schools, teachers and community partners collaborate to provide the necessary tools for student success.

The program provides:

• screening and training for volunteers;
• on-campus coordinators connecting students to valuable resources;
• resiliency skills-building curriculum;
• transportation to college campus tours, job shadowing and other off-campus opportunities; and,
• software to track student progress in real-time so adjustments are made, as needed.

Economic professors from Princeton and Cornell Universities in a New York Times article, suggest “each new graduate confers a net benefit to taxpayers of about $127,000 over the graduate’s lifetime.”

The investment in successfully seeing a Valley student from middle school through graduation: priceless. Your gift to United Way’s Destination Graduation, transforms the lives of local students and our community.