This might just quantify what many of us already suspected, but:
An independent study by McKinsey & Company suggests that if racial, socio-economic and geographical achievement gaps were closed, the United States's yearly GDP could be as much as $2.3 TRILLION dollars higher. That means that failing schools' negative impact on the economy is greater than the current recession.
Think about that. Forget the subprime crisis, forget the credit crunch, forget Bernie Madoff. As the study's authors point out, if we'd been successful at raising performance benchmarks in the 15 years after "A Nation At Risk" first shone light on America's educational crisis, we might still be living in the world of 4.2% unemployment and $10,000 bottle service.
We're paying the price for failing our at-risk students for the past several decades. We simply can't afford to repeat our mistakes.