HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS.   Term Paper ID:20708 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Sociological profile. Incidence, causes, socioeconomics, evaluation of programs & incentives for prevention. Paper Introduction: HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT This paper examines the high school dropout phenomenon from a sociological perspective. Specifically, the paper reviews studies explicating the demographic parameters of dropout, reasons for dropout, incentives given to schools, principals, teachers, administrations, and other pertinent personnel for helping students at-risk of dropout to remain in school, and dropout prevention programs and projects. The purpose of the paper is to compile a profile of the essential factors involved in and effecting high school dropout. Demographic Parameters Concerning high school dropout, Ponessa (1991) has noted that in the country as a whole, 71% of all students receive a high school diploma by age 18 years; the remainder of these Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Effects of the Year-Round Calendar on School Attendance. The study focused onrespondents' stated reasons for dropping out of high school and forentering educational programs as adults. ReferencesGrannis, J.C. ED 335 177).Natriello, G. (1991). Public Affairs Focus, 18, 1-9.Popp, R.J. School Reform and Potential Dropouts. The final section of the review examined dropout prevention programs. Conclusions It was noted that the purpose of this paper was to compile a profileof the essential factors involved in and effecting high school dropout.Based on the presented review of the literature it can be noted that alittle over one quarter of American students are dropping out of schoolwith the majority of these students likely to be minority males. An interesting sociopolitical perspective on supplying incentives toeducational organizations and personnel has been offered by Person (199 )who notes that teachers/principals can be motivated toward strong effortsat eradicating dropout by rethinking and redesigning traditionalapproaches. An interesting sociological study of reasons for dropout wasconducted by Westheimer (1992). This study examined the lived experienceof conflict among students as part of the New York City Dropout PreventionEvaluation Project. (1986). Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Year-Round Education (18th, Anaheim, CA, February 1-4).Westheimer, M. AfricanAmericans have the second highest rate, and Whites the lowest. Incentives Roditi (1991) discussed organizational/personnel incentives as ameans of assisting to remediate school dropout. Prevention Programs Programs for school dropout have been developed from a number ofdisciplines and perspectives (e.g. (1992). Jobs for the Future, Inc., West Somerville, MA. An interesting evaluative study of a comprehensive dropout preventionprogram was conducted by Shapiro (1986). Also, in a study of the influence of gender, race, andfamily background on teens' decisions to leave school, Rumberger (1983)reported that findings indicated that females were more likely to leavebecause of pregnancy or marriage and males were more likely to leavebecause of work. In general, the authors state, that these statistics evidencedifferences in dropout among youth in central cities, suburban areas, andrural areas. & Ujlaki V. Educational Leadership, 43(1), 1 -14.Ogletree, E.J. The purpose ofthe paper is to compile a profile of the essential factors involved in andeffecting high school dropout. The sense ofalienation from schooling persisted through young adulthood and was animportant factor in decisions of over 1/2 the sample to drop out of adultbasic education programs prior to entering the program where they weredrawn as subjects for this study. The theoretical framework of the study began with the basic premisesof symbolic interactionism for a theory-based methodological perspective.Critical theory was then introduced, and social order was discussed as partof a school's hidden curriculum. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. Ponessa further reports that, at least in urban schools, thereis a tendency for dropouts to be at higher risk if they are male and/ormembers of minority ethnic groups. ED 334 3 9).Howley, C. (1983). (1985). Among the incentives listed were allowingteachers enough program input and development time; giving teachersincreased responsibility for implementation of these programs, includinghiring power; providing for joint planning and teacher development;providing inservice assistance program to teachers, and allowing teachersto take supplementary educational courses that helped them in their workwith at-risk students. No statistically significant difference between the twogroups was evident on the independence scale. These characteristics are: (1) the selection and assignment ofquality staff; (2) high level of staff communication and training; (3)sense of group identity and program ownership by staff and students; (4)high level of support from the district and central offices; (5)opportunities for school facilitators to meet periodically and shareinformation; (6) well-organized, daily attendance monitoring procedures,team visits to homes, and ongoing staff training for family workers; (7)high quality counseling staff and a case management approach to servingstudents; (8) individual health counseling and health education classes forstudents; (9) informed and involved high school linkages; and (1 )alternative education programs that teach marketable skills and arecomparable with real work situations. American Educational Research Journal, 2 (2), 199-22 .Shapiro, J.Z. ERIC/CUEDigest No. Past and Present Educational Experiences of Parents WhoEnrolled in Kenan Trust Family Literacy Programs. Findings of theirimplementation of the year-round schedule in Jefferson County, ColoradoSchool District found that shifting to the schedule actually improvedteacher attendance and reduced school dropout. ED 275 815).White, W.D. Grannis (1991) presents a comprehensive review of the existingliterature on dropout. It was noted that these programs can vary widely depending upon whetherthey are based on a psychological, vocational, educational, sociological,or some other perspective.However, it was pointed out that despite variance inform, successfulprograms all have certain constant attributes. & Huang, G. LSYOU (Louisiana State Youth Opportunities Unlimited). It was further observed that family background stronglyinfluenced dropout behavior and accounted for almost all racial differencesin dropout rates. Data were collected via a non-evaluativesurvey instrument, using a sample of 2 adults enrolled in the GED programat Thornton Community College (Chicago, Illinois). Various subtests and subscales of the Comprehensive Test of BasicSkills and Career Maturity Inventory were used to collect pre- and posttestdata on the two groups. (1991). In addition, Grannis (1991) reported that a successful dropoutprevention program must include clear school completion goals, which mustbe regularly monitored, and district and school accountability. Sample students included students who had dropped outof school but were now reentering as well as students who were at-risk ofdropout. National Center for AdultLiteracy, Philadelphia, PA.; National(ERIC Document Reproduction ServiceNo. This factor was the year-round schedule. Measured by either event or status rates, Hispanicyouth have the highest national dropout rate among ethnic groups. A Working Paper. How Much Does a Youth Apprenticeship Program Cost, and Who Will Pay for It? Y. educational, psychological,sociological, political, etc.). Paper presented at the NationalDropout Prevention Conference (3rd, Nashville, TN, March 25-27).Ponessa, J.M. The review also revealed that a number of factors operate asincentives to motivate educational personnel (principals, teachers,supervisors, etc.) to improve the quality of their work with students at-risk for dropout. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. LSYOU is an intensive eight-week residential dropout preventionprogram held at Louisiana State University that provided work experience,academic training, counseling, supportive services, recreation, healthcare, team support, and training in saving money to disadvantaged highschool students who were identified as at risk of dropping out of school. Youth-at-Risk: Who Are They, Why Are TheyLeaving, and What Can We Do (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. Following a lengthy discussion of urban dropout rates, possible riskfactors, the inadequacies of the general equivalency diploma (GED) andalternative high school curricula, Ogletree and Ujlaki (1988) surveyed asample of GED students to determine the factors contributing to theirdropping out of high school. As toreasons why students leave high school, important factors influencingstudent decisions to leave school include: family background factors (e.g.conflict, discord, violence and/or abuse in the student's home); financialproblems related to poverty and depressed socioeconomic status; academicfailure; pregnancy; marriage; problems with teachers; long-standingfeelings of alienation and disengagement from the educational system; and abehavioral pattern of constantly arguing and fighting. Long-termimprovements in school completion rates were said to require both schoolimprovement and improvements in larger social problems, such as healthcare, housing, unemployment, and job discrimination. In another extensive review of the existing literature on reasons forhigh school drop out, Natriello (1985) stated that main reasons thatstudents drop out of high school are poor grades, family problems, andfinancial problems. K. Motivational Theories as Applied to Ways To ImproveSchool Attendance of High School Students. Lessons from Some Long-Standing School-to-Work Programs and Youth Apprenticeship Programs under Development. HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT This paper examines the high school dropout phenomenon from asociological perspective. Demographic Parameters Concerning high school dropout, Ponessa (1991) has noted that inthe country as a whole, 71% of all students receive a high school diplomaby age 18 years; the remainder of these students (29%) are primarilydropouts. 69. To assess the effectiveness of LSYOU, the academic achievement,career maturity, and intentions regarding staying in and finishing highschool of a treatment and a control group were compared. She suggested that dropoutprograms and projects should routinely provide incentives for schools anddistricts to participate. ERIC Digest. New Jersey's Urban Graduates: Race/Ethnicity and Gender Issues. ED3 1317).----------------------- 3 ED 34 874).Roditi, H.F. The following categories of dropoutprevention program characteristics were considered essential to promotingstudent engagement: (1) relevance of school; (2) academic success; (3)students' positive experience of the school environment; and (4) schoolaccommodation to outside factors. (1987). The Structuring of Conflict Events in an UrbanHigh School. White (1987) stated that his study revealed an unexpectedcontributive factor to teacher motivation to work with students at-risk fordropout. CS: ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, New York, N.Y.(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the AmericanEducational Research Association (San Francisco, CA, April 2 -24).Wittenberg, S. An exploratory study conducted by Popp (1991) examined 34 adultparents who had dropped out of high school. This study examined theeffectiveness of the Louisiana State Youth Opportunities Unlimited (LSYOU)program. Meeting the Goals of School Completion. Study results showed that schooldropout was not simply a function of low attendance, low grades, poor peerrelations, substance abuse, and/or delinquent behavior, although allfactors were present. This behavior pattern was also said to be disruptive to dropouts reentryinto school as well as, in many cases, part of students' initial reasonsfor leaving school. Specifically, statistics indicate that the dropout problem is mostsevere in central cities, least severe in suburban areas, with non-metroareas in the middle. College of Education. ERICClearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, Charleston, WV. (199 ). Dropping Out of High School: The Influence of Race, Sex, and Family Background. Contrary to many sociological and psychological conceptualizations ofstudents' reasons for leaving high school, Ogletree and Ujlaki (1988)reported that their findings revealed that very few sampled adults had beenin trouble with the law, influenced adversely by peers, involved in gangs,suspended from school, abused as children, absent, ill, disabled, afraid togo to school, or raised in a dangerous community. These factors include: involving teachers in both theplanning and implementation of dropout prevention programs; providingteachers with both supplementary educational courses and inservice trainingaimed at assisting them in their work with at-risk students; redesigningschools and their basic educational approaches so as to make them both morecompetitive and more inclined to utilize a team approach; and the use ofthe year-round schedule. Instead, Popp (1991) suggested that underlyingcauses could be traced to a process of disengagement from schooling thatbegan at the transition from elementary to middle school. (1988). Howley and Huang (1991) has noted that national statistics on dropoutrates are of three types: (1) event rates reporting the percentage ofstudents who left high school without finishing work toward a diploma in asingle year; (2) status rates reporting the percentage of the population ofa given age range who have not finished high school or are not enrolled;and(3) cohort rates reporting what happens to a single group of students overtime. The treatment group demonstrated statisticallysignificant gains over the control group in reading comprehension,mathematics comprehension, and mathematics concepts and applications. All respondents in the study were nowtaking basic education programs and stated that they persisted in theseprograms precisely because the programs addressed their sense ofalienation. In addition, the treatment group showed statistically significantgains with respect to decisiveness, involvement, orientation, andcompromise scales. Specifically, the paper reviews studiesexplicating the demographic parameters of dropout, reasons for dropout,incentives given to schools, principals, teachers, administrations, andother pertinent personnel for helping students at-risk of dropout to remainin school, and dropout prevention programs and projects. According to the author, student engagement withschool has emerged as the single most important factor in dropoutprevention and school completion. Further, the program must be relevant to thestudent, foster improvement in the student's level of academic success;provide the student with positive experiences of school and makeaccommodation for outside factors that can affect the student. These include: theselection and assignment of quality staff; high quality training andcommunication; good sense of program identify on the part of both teachersand students; strong district support; opportunities for schoolfacilitators to meet periodically and share information; well-organizedattendance monitoring procedures; team visits to homes, and ongoing stafftraining for family workers; high quality counseling; and alternativeeducation programs that teach marketable skills and are comparable withreal work situations. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Reasons For Dropout Wittenberg (1988) conducted an extensive review of the existingliterature on characteristics of youth-at-risk for high school dropout.Findings of the study revealed that those students who were most at-riskhad the following characteristics: poor academic record; low parentaleducation level; dislike for school; little or no participation in extra-curricular activities; discipline problems; disrupted home life; lowsocioeconomic status; age of 16 or 17 years in grades 9 through 11; poorself-concept; inadequate goals; low aspirations; and poor reading ability. Interviews conducted with experienced administrators and teachersincluded the observations that teachers felt more motivated because the newschedule was sufficiently flexible to accommodate a more adaptive lifestylewhich, in turn, made teachers feel less stressed and more able to confrontclassroom challenges such as working with at-risk students in a manner thatelevated students' attitudes toward school. Rather, data suggestedthat poverty and socioeconomic background were the primary contributingfactors affecting students' decisions to dropout of school. Analysis of Why GED Adults Dropped Outof High School. (1991). Over the course of two years, one classwas observed by an ethnographer/evaluator approximately twice a week. Analysis revealed that fightingwas a part of students' everyday lives; and that a recurrent pattern ofperceived disrespect, exchange, and audience presence results in conflicts. (1991). Project Evaluation. Data collection included ethnographic interviews, participantobservation, and site document collection. (1988). ED 337 635).Rumberger, R.W. The treatmentgroup consisted of 94 randomly assigned LSYOU students, and the controlgroup was comprised of 51 Summer Youth Employment students. According to Wittenberg, the primary reasons that teens give for whythey dropped out of school included: academic failure; marriage, marriageplans, or pregnancy; dislike or lack of interest in school; disciplineproblems; and inability to get along with teachers or peers. However, while programs can vary widely,the New York City Board of Education (1986) has noted that regardless ofwhether the program is educational, psychological, sociological, orvocational in approach, there are certain characteristics that areindicative of successful programs. ED 321 336).Person, P. Specifically, Person stated that schools should be redesignedto use competition and teamwork to achieve established goals. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. She notedthat just as it works in the free market system, the competitive/teamworkapproach will result in school employees (as well as students) evidencinghigher levels of production. School Completion 2 : Dropout Rates andTheir Implications for Meeting the National Goal. (ERICDocument Reproduction Service No. (1991). However, neither of the twoprograms in which the treatment and control groups participated appear tohave exerted a statistically significant impact on students' intentions toremain in and graduate from school. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.