Importantly, the Alliance for Excellent Education maps the positive impacts that a 90 percent high school graduation rate would have on local economies, breaking the data down by state, metropolitan area, and demographic group so that it can be useful for local community leaders, policymakers, educators and parents.

“I’ve always thought that we need to prepare our students for the world, but I’m learning so quickly that we need to prepare the world for our students,” said Christina Cody, a science teacher and founder of the youth health initiative FIT2gether, at the recent Atlantic Education Summit.