LGBTQ+ students are twice as likely to drop out of high school
In the Media
Historically, it has been difficult to pinpoint drop-out rates among LGBTQ+ pupils, so this data is likely to come as a shock to many. It’s astonishing that young people identifying as LGBTQ+ are finding schools to be places of discrimination instead of tolerance, understanding, and safety.
Justin van Fleet, President of Theirworld
Justin van Fleet, CEO of the Global Business Coalition for Education, led a team of researchers to analyse figures for 38 OECD member countries revealing that more than one in10 LGBTQ+ students in the USA are projected to drop out of education. The research also found that that each graduating class of LGBTQ+ students who leave school early will cost the US economy up to $706 million. Over a working lifetime, this equates to more than $30 billion for each cohort of students not graduating high school.