About 75 percent of first-time freshmen in public high schools during the 2000-01 school year had earned a regular diploma by the end of the 2003-04 school year.

Dropping out of high school is related to a number of negative outcomes. For example, the average income of people ages 18 through 65 who had not completed high school was roughly $20,100 in 2005.

By comparison, the average income of people ages 18 through 65 who completed their education with a high school credential — including a General Educational Development certificate — was nearly $29,700, according to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau figures.

Dropouts are also less likely to be in the labor force than those with a high school credential or higher education degree and are more likely to be unemployed if they are in the labor force, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics

7 MILLION SPECIAL-ED STUDENTS

MORE LATITUDE IN EDUCATING THEM

There are nearly 7 million special-education students in the United States, and roughly half have learning disabilities. Most of those are reading-related, such as dyslexia or problems in processing information.

The Bush administration, following passage of a broad special-education law, issued rules in October that rewrote the way schools determine if a child has a learning disability.

States had largely relied on a 1970s-era method that looks for disparities between a child's IQ and achievement scores. The new guidelines give states more latitude, allowing them, for example, to observe how well children respond to intensive instruction in the subjects where they're having problems.

Schools nationwide get roughly $11 billion a year in federal money for special education.

Source: Associated Press

EDUCATION FACT

The rate of college enrollment immediately after high school increased from 49 percent in 1972 to 69 percent in 2005.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics