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N.E. hits highs in education

By Cindy Rodriguez, Globe Staff and Bill Dedman, Globe Correspondent, 05/22/2002

igh school dropouts are rapidly disappearing from the adult population in New England, while those with a bachelor's degree or higher reached a historic high in 2000, according to US Census figures released yesterday, reflecting an increasingly sophisticated economy that requires less muscle and more brainpower.

About 16 percent of New England residents over age 25 lacked a high school diploma in 2000, down from 30 percent in 1980. During the same period, the number of New Englanders with a college diploma doubled from 1,425,114 to 2,871,195, or 29 percent of the adult population.

"The expectation that a suburban high school graduate is going to college is now the norm," said John Harney, executive editor of Connection, the quarterly magazine of the New England Board of Higher Education. "The economy is punishing people who don't have college degrees."

Put another way: Education pays. A recent study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University revealed that the annual income of families headed by a high school dropout declined by $7,000 from 1979 to 1999, when adjusted for inflation. But families headed by a person with a bachelor's degree saw their income rise by $8,000. Those with an advanced degree saw an increase of $24,000.

Massachusetts recognized the connection between education and income long ago, as both a center of higher education and the most educated state in the nation. Nearly twice as many Massachusetts adults hold college degrees as the national average, according to a Census Bureau survey two years ago.

But the trend toward more education and fewer dropouts swept all of New England. In Maine alone, the percentage of adults who haven't graduated from high school fell from 21.2 percent to 14.6 percent just since 1990. Education analysts say the region-wide rise reflects adults returning to college as well as students remaining in New England after graduation and college graduates from other regions drawn by jobs here.

The demand for education also fueled a wave of expansion at the region's colleges and universities, including a new engineering school in Needham and major construction at schools such as Northeastern and the University of Massachusetts-Boston. But the demand for skilled, educated workers -- especially in the health, science, technical, and finance sectors -- has forced companies to look to other parts of the country and to foreign workers to fill their needs.

Yet, educators say the New England economy is still too reliant on college graduates, especially compared with other countries, such as Switzerland, Cuba, and England. They say it is imperative that local schools and governments strategize to find ways to pull the less-educated into vocational and technical programs because New England can't afford to spare any workers.

"Unless the state makes it a mission to tap into the potential of that work force, it's going to hurt us in the long run," said Neil Mello, director of external affairs at MassInc, a nonpartisan public policy think tank. "Our labor force growth in the state is notoriously poor."

The census data, analyzed by the Globe, shows a continuing trend of segregation between the well-educated and the less-educated. The center of the super-educated is the swath of suburbs just west and northwest of Boston, including Dover, Sherborn, Wellesley, Weston, Boxborough, Sudbury, Acton, Lexington, and Lincoln. Carlisle leads the state as the town with the highest proportion of college graduates, 83 percent.

As might be expected, the well-educated live in towns that are predominantly white, have the highest median household incomes, and where married couples are the norm.

The Massachusetts town that experienced the largest education jump was Bolton, which went from 35 percent college grads among adults in 1980, to 67 percent in 2000. That increase had much to do with the rise of Digital Equipment Corp. and other high-tech companies that moved into the area, attracting well-educated workers who could afford to live in towns like Bolton, where half-million dollar homes are typical. In 2000, it made the top-10 list of towns with the highest median income, $102,798.

"To live in this town, you have to make good money and educated people make good money," said Police Chief Celia Hyde. The largest commercial taxpayer is The International, a 36-hole golf course and conference center on 650 acres. Other than that, the town has apple orchards, a few downtown businesses, such as the Bolton Country Store, and not much more.

Rural areas that are far from business and industry continued to have a much smaller percentage of college graduates, but a higher percentage of residents graduated from high school.

At the bottom of the education scale are working-class communities with large immigrant enclaves from Latin America and the Caribbean. Chelsea, Lawrence, Fall River, New Bedford, and Brockton ranked among the lowest in educational attainment. But so too did communities west of Worcester whose populations have steadily been dwindling: Warren, Chicopee, and Erving.

Communities with the lowest education levels face a particular threat with the advent of the MCAS exam as a requirement for graduation, prompting more children to drop out, said Walter Haney, a professor of education at Boston College.

"We need to pay attention to the national education goals, which included raising the graduation rate up to 90 percent," Haney said. "There's only one school district in the nation that's been able to do that and it's in rural Virginia. The rest of the nation is at 60 percent," although many dropouts, he noted, return to school later on to get their diploma.

Cindy Rodriguez can be reached at rodriguez@globe.com.


N.E. hits highs in education By Cindy Rodriguez, Globe Staff and Bill Dedman, Globe Correspondent, 05/22/2002 igh school dropouts are rapidly disappearing from the adult population in New England, while those with a bachelor's degree or higher reached a historic high in 2000, according to US Census figures released yesterday, reflecting an increasingly sophisticated economy that requires less muscle and more brainpower. About 16 percent of New England residents over age 25 lacked a high school diploma in 2000, down from 30 percent in 1980. During the same period, the number of New Englanders with a college diploma doubled from 1,425,114 to 2,871,195, or 29 percent of the adult population. "The expectation that a suburban high school graduate is going to college is now the norm," said John Harney, executive editor of Connection, the quarterly magazine of the New England Board of Higher Education. "The economy is punishing people who don't have college degrees." Put another way: Education pays. A recent study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University revealed that the annual income of families headed by a high school dropout declined by $7,000 from 1979 to 1999, when adjusted for inflation. But families headed by a person with a bachelor's degree saw their income rise by $8,000. Those with an advanced degree saw an increase of $24,000. Massachusetts recognized the connection between education and income long ago, as both a center of higher education and the most educated state in the nation. Nearly twice as many Massachusetts adults hold college degrees as the national average, according to a Census Bureau survey two years ago. But the trend toward more education and fewer dropouts swept all of New England. In Maine alone, the percentage of adults who haven't graduated from high school fell from 21.2 percent to 14.6 percent just since 1990. Education analysts say the region-wide rise reflects adults returning to college as well as students remaining in New England after graduation and college graduates from other regions drawn by jobs here. The demand for education also fueled a wave of expansion at the region's colleges and universities, including a new engineering school in Needham and major construction at schools such as Northeastern and the University of Massachusetts-Boston. But the demand for skilled, educated workers -- especially in the health, science, technical, and finance sectors -- has forced companies to look to other parts of the country and to foreign workers to fill their needs. Yet, educators say the New England economy is still too reliant on college graduates, especially compared with other countries, such as Switzerland, Cuba, and England. They say it is imperative that local schools and governments strategize to find ways to pull the less-educated into vocational and technical programs because New England can't afford to spare any workers. "Unless the state makes it a mission to tap into the potential of that work force, it's going to hurt us in the long run," said Neil Mello, director of external affairs at MassInc, a nonpartisan public policy think tank. "Our labor force growth in the state is notoriously poor." The census data, analyzed by the Globe, shows a continuing trend of segregation between the well-educated and the less-educated. The center of the super-educated is the swath of suburbs just west and northwest of Boston, including Dover, Sherborn, Wellesley, Weston, Boxborough, Sudbury, Acton, Lexington, and Lincoln. Carlisle leads the state as the town with the highest proportion of college graduates, 83 percent. As might be expected, the well-educated live in towns that are predominantly white, have the highest median household incomes, and where married couples are the norm. The Massachusetts town that experienced the largest education jump was Bolton, which went from 35 percent college grads among adults in 1980, to 67 percent in 2000. That increase had much to do with the rise of Digital Equipment Corp. and other high-tech companies that moved into the area, attracting well-educated workers who could afford to live in towns like Bolton, where half-million dollar homes are typical. In 2000, it made the top-10 list of towns with the highest median income, $102,798. "To live in this town, you have to make good money and educated people make good money," said Police Chief Celia Hyde. The largest commercial taxpayer is The International, a 36-hole golf course and conference center on 650 acres. Other than that, the town has apple orchards, a few downtown businesses, such as the Bolton Country Store, and not much more. Rural areas that are far from business and industry continued to have a much smaller percentage of college graduates, but a higher percentage of residents graduated from high school. At the bottom of the education scale are working-class communities with large immigrant enclaves from Latin America and the Caribbean. Chelsea, Lawrence, Fall River, New Bedford, and Brockton ranked among the lowest in educational attainment. But so too did communities west of Worcester whose populations have steadily been dwindling: Warren, Chicopee, and Erving. Communities with the lowest education levels face a particular threat with the advent of the MCAS exam as a requirement for graduation, prompting more children to drop out, said Walter Haney, a professor of education at Boston College. "We need to pay attention to the national education goals, which included raising the graduation rate up to 90 percent," Haney said. "There's only one school district in the nation that's been able to do that and it's in rural Virginia. The rest of the nation is at 60 percent," although many dropouts, he noted, return to school later on to get their diploma. Cindy Rodriguez can be reached at rodriguez@globe.com. © Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.