This Wall Street Journal story reports that $2.3 trillion could be added to the U.S. gross domestic product if the achievement gap can be closed between U.S. and higher-performing nations like Finland and South Korea. An excerpt:
The report, which used a formula McKinsey - (the consultant who produced the figure ) --helped develop to link educational achievement to economic output, also estimated closing the gap in the U.S. between white students and their black and Latino peers could increase annual GDP by as much as an additional $525 billion, or about 4%.
In its report, McKinsey said existing achievement gaps have "created the equivalent of a permanent, deep recession in terms of the gap between actual and potential output in the economy."
Kelly Puente joined the Press-Telegram in 2006 as an editorial assistant and eventually worked her way up to general assignement reporter. Over the years, she’s covered everything from crime and breaking news to human interest and the cities of Bellflower and Cerritos. Kelly is a Long Beach resident and graduate of Cal State Long Beach. She’s new to the education beat and is looking for great stories.
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