• At the end of every school day, 7,000 more students have dropped out of school.

• Almost one-third of all students fail to graduate high school with their class; among ethnic minorities, the dropout rate is almost 50 percent.

• Dropouts are more likely than their peers to be unemployed, live in poverty, have poor health, depend upon social services and go to prison.

• Dropouts earn $9,200 less per year than high school graduates and about $1 million less over a lifetime than college graduates.

• One measure puts the cost to society for each dropout who later moves into a life of crime or drugs at somewhere between $1.7 to $2.3 million.

Source: The Silent Epidemic; Bridgeland, Diulio and Morison; 2006.

A new book by one of America's leading youth advocates, based on 40 years of experience from the streets of New York to the power corridors of Washington.

Bill Milliken, the founder of Communities In Schools, shows us that there is a solution to the dropout crisis that is proven, effective, replicable, and sustainable!

The Last Dropout offers nine key principles that Bill Milliken has tested over three decades. Interwoven are the dramatic life stories about him and his colleagues. The book chronicles a journey that began in the turbulent 1960s as youth workers with a spiritual mission struggled to turn around the lives of dropouts and addicts. It traces the evolution of the Communities In Schools movement from a handful of groundbreaking prototypes to a national network of hundreds of local affiliates.

Milliken explains how the entire community can and must play a role in education reform, reversing this startling trend. He believes that together, the business, non-profit, public policy and education sectors can fix this issue and have students graduate school prepared for life.

The Last Dropout also features stories about how CIS leaders have adopted these principles in their own communities, with stunning results!

thelastdropout.com