dropout research

Across the nation, dropout intervention efforts are focused on helping academically struggling students get the help they need to get to graduation day.

And now, increasingly, programs aimed at preventing dropouts (and recovering those who have already left school) are focusing on giving students the support and flexibility they need to overcome the non-academic obstacles that often stand in the way of a diploma.

But one area that is often neglected is the spiritual and psychological wellness of a student.

In this week’s edition of Research Wednesday, we look at a 2011 study published in the Journal of At-Risk Issues that found that psychological and spiritual components factor into whether a student stays in school.

Washington County Public Schools presented some dismaying news last week.

The Hagerstown, Md., school district’s dropout rate has increased for the past two years. In the 2009-10 year, the rate was 1.56 percent. That inched up to 1.80 in 2010-11 and then hitting 1.93 percent last school year, according to The Herald Mail.

It should be noted these numbers are down from the 5.5 percent rate in 2000, but seeing an increase in the dropout rate — even a small one — can be discouraging.

Donna Hanlin, assistant superintendent for curriculum, school administration and improvement, said part of the reason for the increase in dropouts was because of a more transient school population.

Research has shown that a transient student population does have negative impacts on student achievement  and the classroom environment.

District officials said they are considering an alternate high school to help these students earn their diplomas.

In this post, our first installment of a weekly feature called Research Wednesday, we’d like to share with you a study that shows that programs intended to help transient students only succeed when they address the underlying issues students are facing.

At NoDropouts.org we’ve seen dropout prevention programs of all shapes and sizes. And in general, well like to say, that in a nation in which as many as 1.2 million students drops out each year, any effort to fight the status quo is worthy of support.

  Nine in 10 students who drop out of high school couldn’t read in the third grade.

  Does the solution to America’s dropout epidemic seem obvious all of the sudden?

A typically overlooked corner of the dropout problem became a little more visible Thursday when state officials for the first time released the dropout rate for eighth-graders, the LA Times reported this week.

A new study from the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, has found that community college students who take online courses are more likely to drop out than their counterparts who attend traditional classes.

There is a lot of useful information in Beatrice Motamedi's three-part series on students and stress, but perhaps nothing more important to those engaged in the fight to end the dropout epidemic than this simple observation:

The headline was enticing:

"Repeating a grade can help reduce dropout rate, study says."

We were naturally intrigued. Decades of research has established a very different conclusion: In most cases, retention works to the educational and psychological detriment of the student.

Any study showing otherwise may help point the way to retention strategies that actually work. So we read on:

The fight continues.

But a new report from America's Promise Alliance includes lots of good news for those battling against the nation's dropout epidemic. 

The U.S. graduation rate has increased slightly, from 72 percent in 2002 to 75 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, the number of “dropout factory” high schools — which account for about half of all high school dropouts — fell from 2,007 in 2002 to 1,746 in 2008.

The latest issue of The International Journal of School Disaffection is available at The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network's website.