The numbers are stunning and discouraging.

They show America's inner-city schools are failing to do their job.

A new report shows 1.2 million American high school students drop out every year.

Perhaps most discouraging is the huge difference between graduation rates in major cities, and in the suburbs just a few miles from those cities.

The report comes from a group founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

He calls the situation a catastrophe.

In most cities, the odds a student will clutch a diploma are about the same as a coin toss.

They've got roughly a 50-50 shot.

"This trend is real and has to be reversed," stated Colin Powell, Founder of America's Promise.

School districts in Miami, Denver, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore and Indianapolis have graduation rates below 50-percent.

In Detroit, only one in four ninth graders will go on to graduate.

But cross into the suburbs of those cities, and the odds of graduating improves dramatically.

In New York City, 47-percent of students will graduate, but in the suburbs that number swells to 82-percent.

In Columbus, Ohio, 40-percent.

Outside the city, 82-percent.

And in Baltimore, just 34-percent of students will earn a diploma.

Compare that to 81-percent in it's suburbs.

Educators say we are creating two classes.

"Cities do need more resources because of the challenges a kid presents in the city," explained Michael Casserly, Director of the Council for Great City Schools.

"A lot of times they're poor and they need more social support."

In Brooklyn, New York, programs are trying to re-engage students that dropped out.

"It was hard to balance and I had no real support at home or at school with my peers," stated one high school dropout.

Statistics show high school dropouts are more likely to commit crimes, live in poverty and receive and stay on government assistance.

One legislator called the dropout rate an "economic tsunami."

"Any government that doesn't realize the connection rate between the dropout rate and criminality is being very naive," explained Brooklyn District Attorney, Charles Hynes.

Detroit has the worst showing, with just under a quarter of students earning diplomas.