Consistently, California foster youth lag behind their peers when it comes to key education outcomes like high school graduation and college attendance. There are over 50,000 foster youth in California, according to data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Let's dive into the problem and discuss what you can do to help. According to the Alliance of Children's Rights, a third of all foster youth attend two or more schools in a single year – compared to 7% of all students nationwide. According to data from the California Department of Education, over 92% of all youth in California are in a "stable" school environment, while the same is true for less than 72% of all foster youth in the state. Around 14% of all youth in the state are deemed "chronically absent," according to data from the California Department of Education, while the same is true for over a third of all California foster youth. Around 1.2% of all foster youth in California were suspended (including in-school and out of school) at one point during the last school year, according to data from the California Department of Education, as opposed to just 0.2% for youth overall statewide. According to the Alliance of Children's Rights, the dropout rate for California foster youth is 8%, as compared to 3% for high schoolers across the state. Further, 84% of high school students statewide graduate from high school, while only 56% of California foster youth do too.