Will Raising School Attendance Age Reduce Dropouts?

Requiring Students to Stay in School LongerSeveral states in recent years have studied or actually implemented changes in theirs laws increasing the age to which children are required to attend school.  The New Jersey legislature is currently considering a bill to raise the mandatory attendance age from 16 to 18 years of age citing statistics that show high school drop outs are more likely to live in poverty, be unemployed or end up in jail.  Home school advocates and other opponents, however, say that requiring students to stay in school will not achieve the goals of higher graduation rates and reducing juvenile crime.  Opponents cite difference research that tends to show no evidence that requiring kids to stay in school longer reduces juvenile crime.  They also point to the added burden on taxpayers for additional classrooms and teachers for more students and that students who do not want to be in school create disruptions resulting…