High School Completion in Utah

Utah

The connection between education and health is well-documented. Higher educational attainment is associated with better jobs, higher earnings, increased health literacy, better self-reported health and fewer chronic conditions. Individuals with lower educational attainment are at a greater risk of adverse health outcomes such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, lung disease, mental health problems and premature death. Additionally, students who drop out of high school are more likely to experience incarceration.

Each high school dropout costs the United States more than $272,000 in lost revenue over a lifetime based on the differences between dropouts and graduates in income, taxes paid and government spending on health, crime and welfare. Increased time in school is also associated with higher civic engagement in adulthood.

The prevalence of high school completion is higher among:

• Women compared with men. 
• White, Black, Asian and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander adults compared with Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native adults.
• Those who do not have children during high school compared with teenage mothers. 
• Students without a disability compared with students who have a disability.
• Students who are proficient in English compared with students with limited English proficiency.

Keeping children and adolescents in school through high school graduation and beyond is key to increasing equitable health outcomes. Several programs have been successful in improving high school graduation rates by targeting high-risk populations. Strategies that can improve rates of high school or GED completion — and ultimately, health equity — include: 

• Vocational training (trade schools) and alternative schooling.
• Social-emotional skills training.
• College-oriented programming, mentoring and counseling.
• Attendance monitoring and case management.
• Community service opportunities.

Interventions to increase high school graduation rates should target social, economic and health-related barriers to graduation. These include absenteeism, chronic illness, poverty, hunger, developmental delay due to chronic stress, homelessness and teen pregnancy. The expansion of school-based health centers can help address these barriers. 

Increasing the proportion of high school students who graduate in four years is a Healthy People 2030 objective.

American Public Health Association. “The Dropout Crisis: A Public Health Problem and the Role of School-Based Health Care.” Washington, D.C.: APHA Center for School, Health and Education, February 2018. https://apha.org/-/media/Files/PDF/SBHC/Dropout_Crisis.ashx.

Arenson, Michael, Philip J. Hudson, NaeHyung Lee, and Betty Lai. “The Evidence on School-Based Health Centers: A Review.” Global Pediatric Health 6 (January 2019): 2333794X1982874. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333794X19828745.

Cutler, David, and Adriana Lleras-Muney. “Education and Health.” Policy Brief #9. Ann Arbor, MI: National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at University of Michigan, March 2007. http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief9/.

Cutler, David, and Adriana Lleras-Muney. “Education and Health: Evaluating Theories and Evidence.” NBER Working Paper 12352. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2006. https://doi.org/10.3386/w12352.

DeBaun, Bill, and Martens Roc. “Saving Futures, Saving Dollars: The Impact of Education on Crime Reduction and Earnings.” Washington, D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education, September 2013. https://all4ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/SavingFutures.pdf.

Flanagan, Constance, Peter Levine, and Richard Settersten. “Civic Engagement and the Changing Transition to Adulthood.” CIRCLE, Tufts University, February 27, 2009. https://circle.tufts.edu/sites/default/files/2020-02/civic_engagement_changing_transition_adulthood.pdf.

Hahn, Robert A., John A. Knopf, Sandra Jo Wilson, Benedict I. Truman, Bobby Milstein, Robert L. Johnson, Jonathan E. Fielding, et al. “Programs to Increase High School Completion: A Community Guide Systematic Health Equity Review.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 48, no. 5 (March 26, 2015): 599–608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2014.12.005.

Lundborg, Petter. “The Health Returns to Schooling—What Can We Learn from Twins?” Journal of Population Economics 26, no. 2 (2013): 673–701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-012-0429-5.

McFarland, Joel, Jiashan Cui, Juliet Holmes, and Xiaolei Wang. “Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2019.” Compendium Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, January 2020. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/dropout/index.asp.

Ross, Catherine E., and Chia-ling Wu. “The Links Between Education and Health.” American Sociological Review 60, no. 5 (October 1995): 719–45. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096319.

“Why Education Matters to Health: Exploring the Causes.” Issue Brief #2. Education and Health Initiative. Richmond, VA: The VCU Center on Society and Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, April 2014. https://societyhealth.vcu.edu/media/society-health/pdf/test-folder/CSH-EHI-Issue-Brief-2.pdf.

Wong, Mitchell D., Martin F. Shapiro, W. John Boscardin, and Susan L. Ettner. “Contribution of Major Diseases to Disparities in Mortality.” New England Journal of Medicine 347, no. 20 (November 14, 2002): 1585–92. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa012979.