By GAVIN OFF, Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON -- The road for a high school dropout often leads to low-paying jobs and jail, yet some 1.2 million students choose that path each year, said officials with America's Promise Alliance, a dropout prevention organization.

Contrary to widely accepted perception, most of the Hurricane Katrina victims were not African American, according to recently released data.

Hurricane Katrina victims. Source: Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Multiple Cause of Death data, 2005.

Cause of death of all 825 victims (Multiple causes of death were recorded for some victims.):

-- 423..... Drowning

-- 260 .... Physical injuries (such as head wounds, fractures)

Many of Hurricane Katrina's victims were senior citizens who became trapped by floodwaters and drowned in their homes, according to a newly released accounting of the 2005 storm.