President Obama's call for requiring high school students to remain in school until they graduate or turn 18 has merit, Duke experts say, but simply adding years won't make much difference on graduation rates unless the extra time is spent wisely.
"We also know that when students don't walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma," Obama said during Tuesday night's State of the Union speech. "When students are not allowed to drop out, they do better. So tonight, I am proposing that every state -- every state -- requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18."
Several Duke professors agreed with the president's statement in principle. But they emphasized that simply forcing youngsters to stay in school won't do enough to help them succeed in life.
"Raising the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18 will not alone raise high school graduation rates," said Ann Brewster, a research scholar in Duke's Program in Education. "The focus needs to be on continuing to strengthen practices, programs and policies that help students be successful in school, graduate and be successful in life and work."
About 40 percent of American high school students are already required to remain in school until they graduate or turn 18, said Jacob Vigdor, professor of public policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy, who specializes in student achievement.
The age requirements are now set by state governments. Obama's position would mark a major shift toward the federal government's involvement.
That concerns Kristen Stephens, an assistant professor of the practice of education at Duke's Program in Education.
"Frankly, I am weary of the influence our federal government has had on education over the last few years," said Stephens, who specializes in the education of gifted students. "I would support programs with a goal of keeping kids in school, but not if they negatively effect the academic growth of gifted students."
One of the benefits of making teens stay in school longer is a reduction in crime, notes Phil Cook, a professor of public policy, economics and sociology.
In a policy brief published in December by The Brookings Institution, Cook and a colleague wrote that the average high school graduation rate has only been about 53 percent in America's 50 biggest urban school systems.
The same 2009 study he cited by America's Promise Alliance found that the national graduation rate was 71 percent. It also showed an 18 percentage point gap between urban and suburban schools.
"One of the few levers available to policymakers to ensure youth stay in school is to raise the compulsory schooling age, although it is natural to wonder what good schooling will do for youth who are being forced to go against their will," they wrote.
The paper said there's "strong quasi-experimental evidence" from both the United States and Great Britain that increasing compulsory schooling age has reduced involvement in crime.
Stephens said that keeping struggling teens in school longer will require a variety of programs to help them on many levels.
"If we are talking about kids who drop out due to low achievement and other reasons, we have to understand that keeping these kids in school until they are 18 should involve more than just 'doing time,' " she said. "They would need a whole host of services -- both academic, career, social emotional."
Vigdor said keeping youths in high school is a good start, but convincing them to go on to college is also crucial to their quality of life.
"Sound research has shown that increases in the school-leaving age lead to significant improvements in job-related skills for those forced to extend their education," he said. "At the same time, we can't pretend that a high school diploma is the ticket to a prosperous middle-class existence anymore."
Added Vigdor: "Forcing students to stay in school is not that tough; convincing them that they should keep going even after we stop forcing them is both more difficult and more important."
Then there's the financial aspect of keeping teens in school longer. State governments are broke, and adding students to schools would create yet another financial burden on state coffers, according to Helen Ladd, a professor of public policy and economics at Sanford whose expertise includes school-based accountability and student achievement.
"It is a good idea, but I worry about cash-strapped states finding the money to finance the extension," Ladd said. "So the question is, would the federal government simply mandate that all states raise the compulsory education age, or would the government provide financial incentives?"