Graduating from high school is more important today than ever before in our nation’s history. Our increasingly high technological society requires that workers have at least a high school diploma and, more often than not, additional years of education or training to earn a living wage. Often, individuals who do not complete high school experience a lifetime of limited income and opportunities. Yet thousands of American youth drop
out of school. Nationally, only 86% of students complete high school, a statistic largely unchanged since
1990 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002).

-from Promoting School Completion