Patterns and Factors of High School Dropout Risks of Racial and Linguistic Groups

This study examined the dropout trajectories of racial and linguistic minority students and explored the effects of students' contextual factors on their high school dropout risks. Our motivation was to identify the dropout patterns of Black, Hispanic, and Hispanic English language learner (ELL) students, who have comparatively high dropout rates, and to suggest ways to promote high school completion. We employed a survival analysis using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The results showed that the 3 minority groups displayed significantly higher dropout risks than the White group. The overall pattern of dropout risks increased over time, with the dropout rates of the Black students high in the 1st and 2nd years of high school and the highest dropout rates for Hispanic ELL students in their senior year. A gender difference was found among the students, with male students having higher dropout risks than female students. It was also found that students' positive relationships with their teachers were associated with lower dropout risks.     

以色列中学生辍学问题研究

在以色列中学教育中，无论是在义务教育阶段，还是在非义务教育阶段，都存在着辍学现象。以色列中学生的辍学与学生家庭文化背景、教育体制、学生的学校适应性、学生不良行为习惯等因素有关。     

The impact of community schools on student dropout in pre-vocational education

Dropout prevention is highly ranked on the political agenda in many countries. It remains unclear, however, how dropout can be effectively reduced, as many different factors determine student dropout. Community schools recognize this and aim to modernize education such that it better accommodates students’ personal needs. As a result these schools cooperate more with external organizations, stimulate parental involvement in the educational process, and organize more extracurricular activities. This study examines the impact of Dutch community schools on student dropout. It focuses in particular on pre-vocational education, because dropout is particularly high in this educational track. Moreover, the focus is on the city of Rotterdam because this city is a frontrunner in the Netherlands in establishing community schools. Use is made of unique registration data on all Rotterdam students who were enrolled in pre-vocational education between 2004 and 2008. The impact of community schools is identified by exploiting the fact that community schools were not created before the beginning of the school year 2006/2007. This enables us to estimate the community school impact by means of a difference-in-differences estimation model combined with an iterative matching approach. The estimation results suggest that community schools are as effective as regular schools with respect to dropout reduction. Community school subsidies do not seem to contribute to reducing dropout.     

Some statistical characteristics of special education for children with disabilities in North‐East India

It is estimated that of approximately 150–250 million children with disabilities across the world, a large number have difficulties related to problems in the central nervous system (CNS). This paper considers school dropout rates of children with special educational needs associated with CNS problems from a study of educational institutions in North‐East India. Statistical methods, namely the Kaplan–Meier estimator (Product–Limit estimator) for survival probability and the Nelson–Aalen estimator for cumulative hazard rates, were used to identify potential school continuation or dropout probabilities (survival probabilities), along with cumulative hazard rates (dropout rates) for children with a range of disabilities from different training institutions within the sample area. The research found an increasing likelihood of increased dropout rates in relation to the age of the children within the study sample. This indicates that special education is yet to produce satisfactory results for these children.     

Book reviews of The African American Education Data Book volume I / The African American Education Data Book volume II / The African American Data Book volume III

Children in foster care represent one of the most vulnerable, academically at risk populations in the United States. Aside from lower standardized achievement test scores, higher grade retention numbers, and a greater dropout rate than non-foster youth, between 30% to 50% of children in foster care are placed in special education programs, generally related to either a learning disability or an emotional disturbance. This study investigated the effectiveness on school performance of an education liaison from the school system who worked with social workers to resolve educational barriers to learning and achieving. Advocacy by the education liaison led to positive results in terms of school performance of foster youth. Recommendations are made for better addressing the educational needs of children in foster care.     

Does intensive coaching reduce school dropout? Evidence from a randomized experiment

School dropout is an important social and economic problem. This paper investigates the effect of an intensive coaching program aimed at reducing school dropout rates among students aged 16–20. Students received support and guidance with their study activities, personal problems and internships in firms. The coaching program lasted one or two years. Students were randomly assigned to the coaching program. We find that one year of coaching reduced school dropout rates by more than 40% from 17 to 10 percentage points. The second year of coaching further reduced school dropout by 1 percentage point. The program is most effective for students with a high ex-ante probability of dropping out, such as students no longer obliged to be in formal education, male students, and students not living with both parents. Cost-benefit analysis suggests that one year of coaching is likely to yield a net social gain.     

Tightening eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits. Impact on educational attainment

Imposing stricter eligibility conditions on unemployment insurance (UI) may increase the returns to education investment because these make the consequences of unemployment more severe. In most countries, entitlement to regular UI hinges on completing a qualifying period of work and social contributions. In Belgium, this requirement also exists but is relaxed for education-leavers in that they can substitute time actively searching for a job for employment during the qualifying period. We evaluate the impact on degree completion and dropout of a 2015 reform that withdrew this weaker requirement from graduates aged 25 or over and from high school dropouts younger than 21. We find that the reform significantly increased degree completion and reduced dropout for students in higher education but not for those in high school. We argue that the higher prevalence of behavioral biases among the lower-educated could explain these contrasting findings.     

撒拉族农村地区的教育现状与困境

撒拉族农村地区人口中盲率高，儿童入学率低，轰学现象严重的状况是社会，学校，家庭等多方面客观条件和主观认识共同作用的结果。发现民族地区的教育事业，除了需要继续加大教育的经济投入以外，关注民族地区的社会发展现状与化特点，关注人们的实际需要，对于走出民族地区教育发展的困境同样重要。     

中小学生教育需求指标体系研究——基于西藏农牧区的调查与思考

国家对西藏教育投入的增长速度越来越快,但西藏农牧区中小学生的辍学率仍然不低,本质上反映了学校教育未能完全满足学生的教育需求意愿.运用主因素分析方法发现:学生教育需求指标体系主要由教育内容、办学形式、提供方式、教育效用、快乐情感体验需求5个一级指标,以及本民族内容比重等24个二级指标构成.教育需求指标的建立要求学校教育必须充分关注学生的教育需求,并将学生的需求贯穿学校教育的每一环节.     

Alternative education programmes: synthesis and psychological perspectives

This paper addresses the problem of high school dropout rates, identifies what risk factors cause students to be more likely to drop out, and examines the types of programmes in existence that serve as alternative educational settings. The traits and characteristics of successful alternative high school programmes are also identified and critiqued using theoretical perspectives from behavioural, social cognitive, cognitive, and motivational psychology, emphasising particular aspects that significantly contribute to developing and implementing successful alternative programmes. Educators can use the information presented in this article to help create a successful educational experience, not only for those at risk of dropping out of school, but for all of the students they serve.     

中职学校"隐性辍学"学生的激励教育策略

"隐性辍学"已经成为中等职业学校教育中不可忽视的问题."隐性辍学"现象的产生主要有学生自身、教师教育、学校管理和家庭影响四方面的原因.综合运用目标激励、奖罚激励、竞争激励、外部激励和内部激励等教育策略,可以合理有效地帮助"隐性辍学"学生"完整"回归课堂.     

Despite Our Best Intention: Students Relate How Social Promotion Hurt Them and What Changes They Believe will Help Them

The paper researches the practice of social promotion, where students who fail due to a lack of comprehension of grade level material are promoted along with their classmates who passed. Student and parent interviews, student surveys, and data from students’ graduation records are used to determine that social promotion does not improve the students’ education, instead students who are socially promoted are more likely to dropout of high school, less likely to graduate high school on time or at all, and the alternative practices are needed if students are to be successful and graduate high school.     

Promoting Social Justice and Enhancing Educational Success: Suggestions from Twenty Educationally Successful Roma in Greece

In Greece, Roma pupils often experience segregation through educational settings, high dropout rates, low performance outcomes, and higher levels of non-completion when compared to their Greek (non-Roma) peers. However, a small minority do stay in school and proceed to higher education. This paper draws on a set of in-depth interviews with twenty Greek Roma who entered higher education ‘despite the odds’ and examines what these participants advocate, in order to support the educational progression of the Roma in Greece. The participants outline a series of interventions that they believe can challenge some of the economic, cultural, and associational injustices experienced by the Roma. They call for a need to improve educational provision for the Roma in Greece, in order to enhance their educational success.     

甘孜州牧区小学生的辍学原因及对策——基于甘孜州理塘县某小学的调查

辍学问题是我国基础教育领域长期存在的一个问题,但导致辍学的原因各有其特殊性。对甘孜州牧区辍学生及其家长,原班主任、任课教师、校长进行访谈发现,导致甘孜州牧区小学生辍学的原因很多,其中经济发展落后是表层原因,学校教育中的不足是中层原因,学生特殊的教育需求是内层原因,基于此,要进一步强化政府的职能和加强学校教育教学改革。     

The estimation of a conceptual model of nontraditional undergraduate student attrition

The purpose of this study was to estimate a conceptual model of nontraditional student attrition. Data were gathered from 624 nontraditional (commuter, part-time) freshmen at a midwestern urban university enrolling 22,000 students. For these nontraditional students, dropout was a function of GPA and credit hours enrolled, as well as the utility of education for future employment, satisfaction with the student role, opportunity to transfer, and age affecting dropout through intent to leave. In addition, absence from class, age, high school performance, and ethnicity had indirect effects on dropout through GPA. These results suggested that nontraditional students dropped out of college for academic reasons or because they were not committed to attending the institution, but their reasons for leaving were unrelated to social factors at school. The findings helped validate the conceptual model.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, April 1986.     

Freshman Year Dropouts: Interactions Between Student and School Characteristics and Student Dropout Status

Data from a large school district in the southwestern United States were analyzed to investigate relations between student and school characteristics and high school freshman dropout patterns. Application of a multilevel logistic regression model to student dropout data revealed evidence of school-to-school differences in student dropout rates and school-to-school differences in the relation between student characteristics and student dropout status. Investigation of the school differences revealed that school organization and schools' social context were statistically significant predictors of several of the dropout outcomes. Evidence of school context and school practice effects on student dropout outcomes suggests that school personnel may need to consider how characteristics of the school environment interact with the background characteristics of students when developing and focusing dropout prevention strategies. Implications for school policy and practice are discussed.     

A review of challenges in South African education and possible ways to improve educational outcome as suggested by decades of research

Despite many positive developments in South Africa (SA), the education system and educational outcome face many challenges and require further improvement. This is reflected by elevated school dropout rates and suboptimal annual pass rates in various grades (Grades 7–12). Over the years, a plethora of studies has identified methods through which academic performance/educational outcome can be improved. However, from a practical point of view it might be difficult to implement these methods in for example a classroom or school, particularly because these methods are mainly discovered upon thorough online literature searches, and therefore published methods to improve educational outcomes are not always within reach of schools or teachers. Our aim is thus to provide a review paper that contains a collation and overview of the possible methods that can be used by various education stakeholders in order to contribute to better educational outcome. Essentially, we are attempting to answer the questions, “What does decades of research tell us about possible ways in which educational outcome can be improved in SA? Can we use these methods in the classroom or school?” This review therefore demonstrates (1) demonstrates various ways education stakeholders/influencers (teachers, learners, parents, government, non-governmental organisations and school governing bodies) can contribute to improved educational outcome, and (2) provides a useful overview of these methods that can be used within or without the classroom.     

Students embracing change towards more powerful learning environments in vocational education

Students’ educational engagement is both an important predictor of study success and a key preventive factor for dropout. Vocational tracks in secondary education show high dropout rates. There is strong evidence that the solution to educational disengagement lies in student‐centred, powerful learning environments (PLEs). This study investigates characteristics of PLEs from the perspective of students in vocational secondary education. Students’ perspectives on a learning environment are crucial for their satisfaction and learning engagement. Therefore, we investigated whether the perceived learning environment meets the requirements of PLEs, and to what extent it meets students’ preferences. Additionally, it was investigated whether students who perceive their learning environment as more powerful, are also more engaged for school. Survey data of 532 students showed that student perceptions of their current learning environment were largely discrepant from the characteristics of PLEs. Students strongly asked for more challenging learning pathways, in combination with adaptive learning support. Students who perceived the characteristics of PLEs as being present, reported higher satisfaction and stronger engagement than students who perceived their education to be a less powerful environment. There is a need to redesign curricula in vocational education in such a way that these more intensely implement characteristics of PLEs.     

对远程开放教育辍学者的访谈调查

高辍学率不仅造成了教育资源的浪费,影响了远程开放教育的形象、质量和社会认可度,阻碍远程教育的正常发展,还会给辍学者带来身心伤害。运用质性研究的方法,通过对辍学者的访谈,从远程教育学习者的入学动机、辍学原因、辍学后的心情及今后的打算等方面深入细致地了解影响他们辍学的主要因素,包括工学矛盾、学习动力不足、情感上受到伤害等,...     

Why do pupils dropout when education is ‘free’? Explaining school dropout among the urban poor in Nairobi

The introduction of universal primary education in sub-Sahara African countries in the 1990s increased enrolment rates and provided opportunities to children who were previously not in school. Research demonstrates that eliminating fees is not the magic bullet that delivers universal access. This study seeks to determine risk factors associated with dropout among primary school children in the low-income areas of Nairobi. Qualitative data is from the Education Research Program, collected between June and July 2008. The study found that: dumpsites in the two slum sites of Korogocho and Viwandani lure children out of school; school levies still charged in schools keep children out of school; and chronic poverty within families lure girls aged 14–16 into transactional sex. In conclusion, the declaration of free primary education is not sufficient to realize improved educational attainment as dropout after initial entry negates the purpose for which it was introduced.