Pre and Post Traige in Education
A proposal for Middle School & 12th graders in abyss - RKT
This proposal is based on data, and witness from students who have dropped out of high school. This along with research and a thesis I am writing for a Psychology course in Rochester college (Link Below)
After years of being in the field as principal, dean mentor, teacher, and advocate for the at-risk student in high school. The essence of the challenge is not in the abyss of the drop out crises - it is held deep within in the middle school years. In high school, I am just a doctor in a triage M.A.S.H. unit (Please see link below for that theory of mine)
The question that begs itself is this...
If there were more resources in the middle school years of a student at risk, would that middle schoolers trajectory be the same?
In essence, if the at-risk student had support, accountability formation and education (Virtus et Scientia) in the middle school years would that same student still have the challenges they endured in high school and eventually drop out?
The dropout statistics in America have created CRISES! This drop out crises affects everyone, (The Mouse Trap) and indeed if 1/4 of our student's drop out of high school that is like one wheel falling off a car at full speed! Would you be in crises if you were driving and wheel blows out and falls off? Indeed, this is the situation the crises the mess we are in here in the United States of America!
My proposal is this...
I am going to create a middle school program for students who are at risk in the trajectory of them dropping out in their high school career.
Based on my triple A policy - Academics, Attendance and Action. (This is in the M.A.S.H link)
The students will be referred by the Flint Michigan court system in Genesee County. Truancy, Mental health, Family and drug courts. Utilizing this as a referral along with parents that come forward because their current school situation with their at-risk child is at a critical stage and will only get worse.
These adolescent students are much more pliable if you will in their development mentally than the students in high school who have been hardened by their failures, situations and action and reaction within their school system.
If I can create the same essence of a quintessential program as I have with my high school students when I served as Principal and Dean in alternative High School, then my hypothesis (backed up with testimony of students in 12th grade who have dropped out) then I believe 100% that these students have a high chance of surviving in the high school setting, armed with the skills, both educationally and emotionally to be successful in high school and in life.
We as a society will either pay now or 10x later for an adolescent who would drop out of school and ultimately live off the state or not put into the system the potential they can.
Data on how much America pays for jails and such is criminal itself.
The post education is indeed what I have found out be the missing link (Link below) This is when an 18-year-old senior in high school most of the time when they are 17 - 18 and have the credits of a freshman. The psychological hell this student goes through is that of (Why try-I &^%$@## QUIT) This is the time when my program of adult education comes in and supports them through the process in an individual learning plan to acquire a GED and prepare for the workforce as opposed to the life on welfare and underpaying jobs.
Who will join me in this most difficult work and mission?
Yes indeed it is an Impossible Dream, yet every day this program and others like it are not supported, is another day a young person gives up on themselves and enters into the depths of the abyss of the drop out crises in America!
Thank you
Richard Kerry Thompson
Dean
GearUp2Lead Academy
Flint Michigan USA
And while there, they are exposed to the wide-ranging influence of peers and teachers.
A successful school experience is the major stepping-stone to financial security. Most good jobs require a high school diploma at the very least, and the best-paying jobs usually require even more education.
Why do some students succeed whereas others do not? How are American schools structured? How satisfied are adolescents with the schooling they receive?
What are the newest educational trends?
From Dolgin, K. G. (2018). The adolescent: Development, relationships, and culture (14th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
The majority of dropouts said that they had not been motivated to work hard (69 percent), and that they would have worked harder had they been made to (66 percent) (Bridgeland et al., 2006).
From Dolgin, K. G. (2018). The adolescent: Development, relationships, and culture (14th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Truancy and Academic Factors
Truancy and Academic Factors
Those who drop out of school often have a high rate of truancy from school prior to their dropping out (Sheldon & Epstein, 2004). Truancy is both a symptom of disengagement and a cause of academic failure. As such, there are different reasons for it. Bimler and Kirkland (2001) identified five types of truants.
The first two types consist of adolescents who miss school because their parents either condone or actively encourage the behavior; for example, the truants’ parents may wish them to stay home to care for younger siblings. The difference between the two groups is whether the truants are themselves intrinsically rebellious when they do attend school.
Bimler and Kirkland term the third group “unmotivated loners”: poorly adjusted social isolates who simply are uninterested in school.
The fourth group is equally unmotivated and poorly adjusted but is part of a rebellious social group.
Finally, the fifth group is composed of “well-socialized delinquents.” They are well adjusted and popular with other deviant youth, but their priorities do not include school.
Many academic factors have been associated with dropping out of school. Among these are poor reading ability, improper placement, and low grades (Bowers, 2010; Goldschmidt & Wang, 1999). Students with learning disabilities and who have low IQs are disproportionately likely to drop out (Dunn et al., 2004). Students who continuously get bad grades find class work punishing and unpleasant to complete. They are also likely to be held back, a factor in and of itself known to be associated with dropping out (Carpenter & Ramirez, 2008).
In addition to these issues, which were identified by dropouts, there are a number of other factors associated with failure to graduate from high school.
Socioeconomic Status, Race, and Ethnicity
Research overwhelmingly indicates that low socioeconomic status (SES) correlates positively with early withdrawal from school (Sirin, 2005). Students from the lowest-income families (bottom 20 percent of the population) are about five times as likely to drop out as those from the wealthiest families (top 20 percent of the population) (Chapman et al., 2011).
Why do students drop out of school?
12.7: Wouldn’t You Like to Know . . .
Why do students drop out of school?
In short, students drop out of school because they are unhappy there. They may feel out of place socially or academically. Perhaps they are receiving too much negative and too little positive feedback from teachers and peers. Students may think that school is not meeting their needs if the education they are receiving seems irrelevant to their lives. They may want to work full time and earn more money than they can at a part-time job.
RKT Thoughts
This indeed is empirical data to ask the fierce questions to students and see where they stand and the school system in the support both perceived and reality...
https://www.smore.com/w7r53-search-institute
RKT
Truancy and Academic Factors
Truancy and Academic Factors
Those who drop out of school often have a high rate of truancy from school prior to their dropping out (Sheldon & Epstein, 2004). Truancy is both a symptom of disengagement and a cause of academic failure. As such, there are different reasons for it. Bimler and Kirkland (2001) identified five types of truants.
The first two types consist of adolescents who miss school because their parents either condone or actively encourage the behavior; for example, the truants’ parents may wish them to stay home to care for younger siblings. The difference between the two groups is whether the truants are themselves intrinsically rebellious when they do attend school.
Bimler and Kirkland term the third group “unmotivated loners”: poorly adjusted social isolates who simply are uninterested in school.
The fourth group is equally unmotivated and poorly adjusted but is part of a rebellious social group.
Finally, the fifth group is composed of “well-socialized delinquents.” They are well adjusted and popular with other deviant youth, but their priorities do not include school.
Many academic factors have been associated with dropping out of school. Among these are poor reading ability, improper placement, and low grades (Bowers, 2010; Goldschmidt & Wang, 1999). Students with learning disabilities and who have low IQs are disproportionately likely to drop out (Dunn et al., 2004). Students who continuously get bad grades find class work punishing and unpleasant to complete. They are also likely to be held back, a factor in and of itself known to be associated with dropping out (Carpenter & Ramirez, 2008).
In addition to these issues, which were identified by dropouts, there are a number of other factors associated with failure to graduate from high school.
Socioeconomic Status, Race, and Ethnicity
Research overwhelmingly indicates that low socioeconomic status (SES) correlates positively with early withdrawal from school (Sirin, 2005). Students from the lowest-income families (bottom 20 percent of the population) are about five times as likely to drop out as those from the wealthiest families (top 20 percent of the population) (Chapman et al., 2011).
Race and Ethnicity
Hispanic American, African American, and Native American students have a higher dropout rate than Caucasian students do (Child Trends, 2015; Diplomas Count, 2013). Rates for Latino students have historically been especially high. (Latino students, of course, often face a language barrier that makes academic success more difficult for them.) However, in recent years the Latino dropout rate has greatly declined: whereas 32 percent of Latino students dropped out of high school in 2000, fewer than half that number (14 percent) dropped out in 2013. The rate at which African American students drop out similarly declined, dropping from 15 to 8 percent in the same time period. Caucasian students are also less likely to drop out, 5 percent in 2013 versus 9 percent in 2000. The dropout rate of Asian American students held nearly constant (4 vs. 5 percent). The exception to these positive pieces of news is that the Native American dropout rate has been climbing. The highest dropout rates are among non-White students from inner-city high schools: The trying economic, social, and familial conditions faced by these youths are not conducive to continuing education. (See the Research Highlight box: “Factories of Failure?”) However, the good news is that graduation rates have been rising faster for these teens than in the nation at large, and so the graduation gap is narrowing.
Peer Mentor !!!
Dropouts, Employment, and the GED
Dropouts, Employment, and the GED
Objective: Contrast the employment prospects for those who have differing levels of educational attainment
Contrary to the stereotype, many high school dropouts work (albeit at primarily unpleasant, low-wage jobs). Historically, though, the unemployment rate for dropouts has been quite a bit higher than for high school graduates; for example, in 2008 the unemployment rate for dropouts was nearly 1.5 times as high as it was for high school graduates, 9 versus 5.7 percent (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). Most recently, however, with the current recession, employment prospects are bleak for both groups: 29 percent for recent high school graduates, and 30 percent for recent high school dropouts. White dropouts are more likely to find work than Black dropouts, and male dropouts are more likely to be employed than female dropouts (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). This latter statistic makes sense because many girls who drop out of school do because they have had a baby. Assuming they can find a job, at first dropouts earn almost as much as high school graduates. However, dropouts find themselves in dead-end jobs and their salaries do not rise, whereas those of graduates do; the wage gap, therefore, widens with age. The median salary for high school dropouts of all ages was $488/week in 2014; for high school graduates, it was $668/week (or roughly a third again as much). For those with a bachelor’s degree, it was $1,101/week (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015a). In part because of their poor employment situation, a large majority of dropouts come to regret their decision to leave high school without a diploma (Bridgeland et al., 2006). Because of this, a significant number eventually choose to study for and then take the GED test.
The GED is a set of tests designed to indicate whether an individual has high school level competency in reading, writing, social studies, math, and science. It is a pathway to receiving a “high school diploma” once one has dropped out. In 2012, more than 600,000 individuals took and more than 400,000 passed the exam.
How do these individuals fare? Not as well as traditional high school graduates—they are less likely to go on to college and very much less likely to graduate from one. They earn considerably less than those with traditional diplomas, irrespective of their sex or ethnicity. Still, they earn considerably more than high school dropouts, making it a worthwhile pursuit.
12.2.1: Issues Faced by Middle School Students and Teachers
12.2.1: Issues Faced by Middle School Students and Teachers
There is no single agreed-upon structure for middle schools. Depending on the community, middle schools can begin as early as 4th grade or as late as 6th grade and end in either 6th, 7th, or 8th grade. There are more than four times as many middle schools today as there were in 1970, and there are only about half as many junior high schools now as then (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015b). There has also been some call for a return to a two-school model, in this case K–8 and 9–12 (e.g., Juvonen et al., 2004), since some research shows that this model is more successful than any three-school configuration. Why might this be so? Elmore (2009) suggests that it is due both to the smaller number of adolescents in K–8 schools and to the way that the presence of younger children changes the interaction patterns between adolescents and teachers. Ideally, middle schools should not merely be renamed and reshuffled junior high schools; rather, they should be different in concept. This has generally not been the case, however, and so many students still go into a slump when they enter middle school. They exhibit large declines in academic motivation, in perception of their own academic abilities, and in achievement after they leave elementary school (Eccles & Roeser, 2009).
12.2.2: Attributes of Successful Middle Schools
Drawing on the work of a large group of specialists, Jackson and Davis (2000) summarized the attributes most characteristic of successful middle schools, including the following:
Teachers who work with early adolescents should have special training in interacting with this age group as well as opportunities for ongoing professional development.
The curriculum should be rigorous, and there should be high learning expectations.
The curriculum should be presented so that the students understand its relevance to their own lives.
The atmosphere of the school should be caring and supportive. Students should feel that they share a community with their peers and teachers.
Middle schoolers need to feel that their opinions and thoughts are respected.
The school should strive to ensure the success of all students—the academically weak and strong.
Parents should be involved in the school.
The school should be part of the larger civic community, and there should be interaction with businesses, community service centers, and the like.
Students should be encouraged to develop good health habits.
12.2: Wouldn’t You Like to Know . . .
Does fostering competition among students make them work harder and learn more?
Many researchers believe that fostering competition among students is less effective than fostering competition within students. That is, students do better if they are competing against themselves and trying to improve their own performance. According to this task mastery approach, students’ grades should be based on their own improvement, not on how well they do in comparison with others.
Tracking
Tracking, or ability grouping, is an educational technique whereby students are separated into different classes based on their competency in a given subject area. (It differs from being placed in a curriculum, as discussed in the text, in that it refers to individual classes, not an entire program of coursework.) Some classes, such as mathematics and science, are more commonly tracked than others.
Tracking fell out of favor in the 1980s and 1990s. One concern was that students are unfairly placed in lower tracks because of race, socioeconomic status, or other personal characteristics (Loveless, 2013). To compound that problem, once a student was placed in a lower-track class, it was hard to ever move into a higher track since the material was easier, the pace was slower, and the student was viewed as less competent (Lucas & Good, 2001). Furthermore, it was widely feared that lower-tracked students would suffer from decreased self-esteem, since they (and others) have been given evidence that they were not talented in a subject. These problems, summed together, contribute to a “rich get richer, poor get poorer” situation.
However, since the turn of the century tracking has been making a comeback: In fact, today more than 95 percent of American middle and high schools employ some form of tracking (Schweiker-Marra & Pula, 2005). In part, this is because the above-stated fears have not been fully born out in the literature. For example, Wouters and her colleagues (2012) found that when students moved to a lower track their self-esteem improved, not worsened. Other studies have found that academic achievement increases in tracked classrooms at all ability levels (Collins & Gan, 2013, cited by Loveless, 2013).
In addition, tracking is believed by some to have benefits as well. Proponents argue that students in the higher tracks can learn more because the material is covered more quickly than would be otherwise possible; conversely, students in the lower tracks can actually master material because they are given the time to do so. Students in the lower tracks are not subjected to daily feelings of discomfort as they struggle in front of their more-able peers.
Ultimately, however, one would want to know the long-term effects on achievement and self-esteem for students in both higher and lower tracks. Unfortunately, most of the research that has examined these issues has used cross-sectional designs and lacked adequate control groups. However, in 2005 Mulkey and her colleagues (Mulkey et al., 2005) published an excellent longitudinal study that tracked 24,000 students over a six-year period, from middle school through the end of high school. Some of these students were in schools that tracked mathematics; others were not. Some of these students were in high tracks; others were in low.
Mulkey and colleagues’ counterintuitive findings were that tracking benefited lower-tracked students more than higher-tracked students. Although all students in the tracked schools demonstrated higher mathematics achievement than comparable students in the nontracked schools, the gains were greater for the initially weaker students. In addition, it was the higher-tracked students whose self-esteem suffered, not the lower-tracked students. Because the higher-tracked students shifted from being the best in regular math classes to being average in the high-track classes, they had less and less trust in their math ability as time wore on; the lower-tracked students, in contrast, were now in with same-ability peers and so felt better about themselves. Tracking seemed to benefit males more than females.
One should always be cautious about jumping to conclusions based on any single study, however well-designed and executed. Other researchers believe that tracking is in fact deleterious to those in the lower tracks. They cite the fact that teachers in the lower tracks are often of poorer quality than those in the higher ones (Oakes, 2005), and that in the lower tracks a student is more likely to be surrounded by disengaged peers than in the advanced groups (Dryfoos, 1991). Mulkey’s results, though, if replicated, indicate that tracking may not be detrimental to lesser-ability students after all, or at least not inevitably.
12.3.2: Atmosphere
Although the teacher is in control of what happens in his or her individual classroom, the principal sets the tone for the entire school, and schools do have an overall climate (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005). A strong, competent principal who uses her or his leadership position to set high standards, to establish fair rules and discipline for those students who break them, to make connections with the outside community, and to foster an upbeat spirit of cooperation and achievement is an enormous asset to the entire school. Students will be distracted if they do not feel safe in the hallways. They will be unhappy and uncooperative if they believe that they are constantly under scrutiny and suspicion. They will be angry if they believe that some students are treated preferentially. Thus, a school’s overall climate can enhance or detract from achievement.
To enhance achievement, the school must create an atmosphere of learning. Too often, students do not perceive school as being primarily a place to go and learn. In many cases, even students who enjoy school do not like it because of the educating that takes place there but because of the opportunity to see friends and participate in activities (Anderson & Young, 1992). When parents ask their adolescent children “How was school today?,” they are more likely to hear about who was fighting with whom and how they had to go outside during that day’s fire drill than about what material was covered in their classes. An important aspect of school climate is how invested students are in learning. It is crucial that the school’s curriculum be perceived by students as both relevant and challenging, for only then will learning become a priority.
A school is more likely to have an atmosphere of learning if students believe that they are responsible for their own learning rather than that they are being held responsible for it. Students who feel responsible for their own learning and who are interested in the course material do not need to be constantly prodded to work; they choose to do so on their own. Students feel responsible when they are given sufficient autonomy and control (Ainley, 2012).
Another component of an effective school climate is that of respect for the students. Schools in which students feel treated respectfully are those in which they behave better. For example, LaRusso and her colleagues (2008) found that schools in which students felt respected had fewer problems with drug use and reduced rates of student depression.
12.3.3: Teachers
Teachers can use many strategies to make students feel responsible for their own learning (Roeser et al., 2008). For instance, students generally do better and are more interested if they are allowed to discover answers for themselves rather than be expected to memorize large quantities of information. In addition, teachers can directly instruct their students about how best to learn. They can give students frequent feedback as to how they are doing, highlighting both accomplishments and areas that still need improvement. Teachers can also give students options for how to master course material and then demonstrate that mastery, allowing students to use their own individual strengths and learning styles.
In an atmosphere of learning, students feel they are responsible for their own learning, not held responsible for it. As such, they are interested in the course material and are willing to work.
In addition, good teachers engage their students. They make information seem relevant and meaningful and show them how to apply the course material and skills they are learning to their daily lives. When they do so, they prevent boredom (Finn, 2006). Good teachers encourage students’ questions, alternative points of view, and self-reflection. They allow students some time to explore areas of interest to them (National Middle School Association, 2005).
It is also important for teachers to demonstrate support and caring. Students do best when they believe that their teachers like them, care about them, and have faith in their ability to do well. Teachers can demonstrate such concern by being warm and friendly and by spending time with students. They can demonstrate their belief in students’ abilities by having high expectations, demanding high-quality work, having patience, and giving students the chance to redo work that is substandard (Wigfield et al., 2006). Teachers can undermine students’ achievement if they indicate that they dislike them or lack faith in them. Negative teacher expectations fall disproportionately on girls, children from racial/ethnic minority groups, and children from lower-income families (Juvonen et al., 2004). Unfortunately, as a whole, middle school teachers exhibit less faith in their students than elementary school teachers and are less warm and caring toward them (Burchinal et al., 2008; Roeser et al., 2006).
The finest secondary school teachers also promote open communication, foster an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual responsibility, and demand excellent work from their students (Ellerbrock et al., 2015).
12.4: Wouldn’t You Like to Know . . .
What can teachers do to help students be successful in school?
Teachers can help students succeed by being flexible and patient yet demanding high-quality work. To do well, students need to know that their teachers believe in their ability to master the course material and care about their success.
12.3.4: Curriculum
The curriculum of a school consists of the aggregate of the courses of study offered. Most comprehensive high schools today offer three basic curricula:
General
Vocational
College preparatory
We’ll begin our discussion of these courses of study by addressing the goals and issues surrounding general curriculum.
Students in the general curriculum are often the castoffs from the other two curricula or are uninterested in college or in one of the vocations taught in the vocational curriculum. The general curriculum’s goals are to provide basic skills for those who will need employment after graduation. Most dropouts and unemployed youths come from the general curriculum, and it is peopled disproportionately with lower-income and minority students (Lewis & Cheng, 2006). Although students are assigned general education courses because of perceived low ability or motivation, all too often once placed there they are left to flounder. Numerous studies have shown that students in general education courses are taught by less experienced teachers who have low expectations of them (e.g., Pallas et al., 1994). They are surrounded by lackadaisical peers. If “no child is to be left behind,” then extra attention must be paid to these students. We must find ways to motivate them to learn.
Vocational Curriculum
The vocational curriculum that is now termed “career and technical education,” or “CTE,” is designed to prepare students for gainful employment. Students divide their time between general education, specialized courses, and, in many cases, on-the-job training. Vocational teachers usually have work experience in the vocation they are teaching. The quality of the programs varies from superb to mediocre.
Courses in the vocational track are no longer being taken solely by students in that track. In fact, most high schoolers now take at least one and often several CTE courses before they graduate. Levesque et al (2010) reported that in 2005, 85 percent of all public high school students took at least one vocational track course, and that the average number taken was 2.5 vocational courses. Similarly, Aliaga and his colleagues (2014) reported that 92 percent of public high school students took at least one CTE class; about half of these students took three or fewer CTE classes and half took more. Males and students from lower-income families took a greater number of CTE classes than females and more wealthy students.
Research Highlight
Factories of Failure?
High schools vary widely in their graduation rates. Although a small number do very well, some graduate fewer than 60 percent of their entering first-year students. These “factories of failure” are largely found, as might be expected, in areas of concentrated poverty and they enroll disproportionately high numbers of minority students. Because they are physically concentrated in particular geographic areas, the students who attend these schools usually have no choice but to attend high schools at which they are likely to fail. As recently as 2002, there were 2,000 of these substandard schools, and they enrolled 46 percent of Black and 39 percent of Latino students (Balfanz & Legters, 2004). Today, because of concentrated efforts and better interventions, there are 1,200 of these schools across the nation, and fewer than 20 percent of African American students and 15 percent of Latino students attend them (DePaoli et al., 2015). We are not yet doing well enough, but we are doing better.
Although many of the students who attend these low-graduation-rate schools are at heightened risk of dropping out because of personal characteristics (see body of the text), are there features of the schools themselves that are exacerbating the problem? Christle et al. (2007) tried to determine whether this is the case. Using interviews, observations, and questionnaires, they compared the characteristics of high schools in Kentucky with high graduation rates with those that had low graduation rates.
The authors did find differences among the schools at the school level. Administrators in the high-dropout-rate schools had, on average, only half as much experience as administrators in the low-dropout-rate schools. The schools with the lowest graduation rates were in worse physical condition and were less clean and orderly. The staff dressed in a less professional manner in these schools. There were less favorable staff-to-student ratios, and the overall mood in these schools was more negative.
In addition, numerous differences could be attributed to either school policy or student characteristics or a mixture of both. Students in the high-dropout-rate schools were more likely to be held back in a grade, to be suspended, and to be truant. They got lower grades and did not score as well on achievement tests. Family involvement was dramatically lower in the high-dropout-rate schools. There were fewer teacher–student interactions, and these interactions were more likely to be authoritarian in nature than in the low-dropout-rate schools.
Finally, the schools could be differentiated on the basis of student characteristics. As expected from previous research, there were strong correlations between graduation rates and family income level and percentage of minority students. Students in the less successful schools were more likely to engage in delinquent acts, and they behaved more negatively toward one another in school.
The reasons, then, for the wide disparity in graduation rates are complex and multifaceted. The students attending these schools are often less academically prepared than their peers and may have fewer resources at home to draw upon. At the same time, the schools themselves are less inviting and underfunded and perhaps engage in harsher policies.
12.5.1: Who Drops Out and Why
12.5.1: Who Drops Out and Why
A constellation of causes has been offered for why adolescents drop out of school or underachieve. The problem may begin early, even before birth. Children who are born prematurely or with low birth weight may be at higher risk for dropping out (Odberg & Elgen, 2011). It is known that low-birth-weight children are at risk for subtle neurological defects that may interfere with school functioning. Specific cognitive processes such as attention and short-term memory may be affected, and these, in turn, have an impact on reading and arithmetic ability and social adaptation. A number of studies of elementary schoolchildren indicate that low-birth-weight children have more learning problems, visual-motor deficits, and grade retention than normal-birth-weight children (McGrath & Sullivan, 2002). The fact that many researchers have concluded that poor reading level in third grade—regardless of cause—is strongly predictive of failure to complete high school (e.g., Heinrich et al., 2008) leads to the conclusion that for many dropouts, their academic problems did not begin with adolescence.
So many factors can contribute to academic success or failure: socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic prejudice and discrimination, parental influence and relationships, home responsibilities, personality problems, social adjustment, peer associations, financial problems, health concerns, early pregnancy, intellectual difficulties, learning disabilities, poor grades, misconduct, expulsion, and lack of interest in school (Connell et al., 1995). Usually, problems accumulate over the years until withdrawal occurs, often after the legal requirement of age or the number of years of schooling has been met.
The actual event or circumstance that precipitates dropping out may be minor: a misunderstanding with a teacher, a disciplinary action, a blowup with peers, tension at home, etc. For instance, one boy known to the author withdrew from school after he was refused admittance to a class because he did not have a late pass from another teacher. The boy got angry, quit school, and never came back. Although this incident was small, it followed a whole series of prior events—getting bad grades, being made to repeat a grade, and lack of popularity led to the final withdrawal. Figure 12.1 illustrates why adolescents leave school.
Figure 12.1 Reasons Adolescents Leave School
A 2006 survey asked dropouts themselves to give their reasons for leaving school. The following chart shows the most common causes cited by these adolescents. (The numbers do not sum to 100 percent because respondents could provide multiple answers.)
Figure 12.1 Full Alternative Text
The majority of dropouts said that they had not been motivated to work hard (69 percent), and that they would have worked harder had they been made to (66 percent) (Bridgeland et al., 2006). Let’s examine these motivations.
Boredom and Alienation
A large number of the dropouts’ responses include elements of boredom (uninteresting classes), lack of motivation, and disengagement from school (friends not in school).
There are numerous ways to decrease boredom and enhance feelings of engagement; for example, curricula can be made more relevant, with clear ties to an individual’s future, and stronger, more personal relationships can be forged between teachers and students. In addition, students can be encouraged to develop their talents and interests through participation in extracurricular clubs and activities. Students who join the band or go out for sports are more likely to feel connected to their school (Brown & Evans, 2002).
Interestingly, teachers are far less likely than pupils to cite boredom as a reason for dropping out (Bridgeland, 2010).
Family Responsibilities
Many students cited the need to care for a family member, including a spouse or a child. Teenage pregnancy, then, is a significant contributor to dropping out. Teenage girls who become pregnant are 10–12 percent less likely to graduate high school than those who do not (Basch, 2011), and they are 15–20 percent less likely to attend college. Pregnancy is an especially significant contributor to dropping out for Latinas and African American girls: Over one-third of Latinas and African American adolescents who drop out of high school cite pregnancy as a reason (Guilamo-Ramos et al., 2012; The National Campaign, 2012). Not only does pregnancy encourage girls to drop out, but once they have dropped out, they are more likely to become pregnant (Domenico & Jones, 2007), and so decreasing the high school dropout rate would have the additional benefit of decreasing the teenage pregnancy rate. Federal law Title IX requires that schools make reasonable accommodations for pregnant teenage girls and teenage mothers (National Women’s Law Center, 2007), and so they are not forced out by the system; more commonly, they drop out because they were disinterested to begin with or need to make money to support their child. School-based intervention programs have been found to be widely successful in mitigating their dropout rates (Steinka-Fry et al., 2013).
Teenage pregnancy affects high school boys’ graduation rates as well. Six to nine percent of American males father a child as a teenager; about half of these adolescents are non-Caucasian (Scott et al., 2012). Fatherhood is a factor in the decision to leave school for more than one-fourth of male dropouts; 19 percent say it is a major factor (Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 2005). Teen fathers enter the labor market earlier and initially earn more money than do other young men, but by the time teen fathers reach their mid-twenties they earn less. Teen fathers fare poorly in comparison to men who postpone having children until age 20 or later (Pirog-Good, 1996). The lower the boy’s socioeconomic status, the older he is, the less education his parents have, and the fact that he lives in a rural area all increase the odds that an adolescent father will drop out of high school and not return (Futris et al., 2012).
Factors That Contribute to Boredom and Disengagement among Adolescents
Individuals begin to feel bored and disengaged when they are powerless, they perceive the tasks being assigned to them as meaningless, and they feel normless.
Even if a pregnancy is not involved, financial considerations are often important in an individual’s decision about staying in school. High school is expensive: Students may think they must have the “right” clothes to wear and many schools have participation fees for at least some of their courses and extracurricular activities. Sometimes parents pressure youths to go to work to help support the family. At other times, there is the lure of being financially independent, having spending money for social activities, or saving to buy a car. If at-risk students are able to get fairly good jobs without an education, they are more likely to drop out (Stallmann & Johnson, 1996); ergo, the fact that we have been in an economic recession may partly explain why dropout rates have been low in the past decade.
What is the relationship between getting pregnant and dropping out of school?
12.5: Wouldn’t You Like to Know . . .
What is the relationship between getting pregnant and dropping out of school?
For a girl, becoming pregnant increases the likelihood that she will drop out of school, and dropping out of school increases the likelihood that she will subsequently become pregnant. Adolescent boys who father children are also less likely to complete high school.
Race and Ethnicity
Race and Ethnicity
Hispanic American, African American, and Native American students have a higher dropout rate than Caucasian students do (Child Trends, 2015; Diplomas Count, 2013). Rates for Latino students have historically been especially high. (Latino students, of course, often face a language barrier that makes academic success more difficult for them.) However, in recent years the Latino dropout rate has greatly declined: whereas 32 percent of Latino students dropped out of high school in 2000, fewer than half that number (14 percent) dropped out in 2013. The rate at which African American students drop out similarly declined, dropping from 15 to 8 percent in the same time period. Caucasian students are also less likely to drop out, 5 percent in 2013 versus 9 percent in 2000. The dropout rate of Asian American students held nearly constant (4 vs. 5 percent). The exception to these positive pieces of news is that the Native American dropout rate has been climbing. The highest dropout rates are among non-White students from inner-city high schools: The trying economic, social, and familial conditions faced by these youths are not conducive to continuing education. (See the Research Highlight box: “Factories of Failure?”) However, the good news is that graduation rates have been rising faster for these teens than in the nation at large, and so the graduation gap is narrowing.
Home Life and Peer Associations
Economically disadvantaged and minority adolescents are likely to experience a lack of congruence between school and home (Arunkumar et al., 1999); this is also true of adolescents who are immigrants (Georgiades et al., 2013). That is, the values and attitudes these students experience at home don’t match those of their teachers; this is generally not a problem for middle-class, majority students.
Some areas of incongruence include attitudes toward competition, impulse control, and the appropriateness of emotional display (Trumbull et al., 2001). For example, expressions of anger are more tolerated among low-SES African American families than they are at school. Native American students may feel that it is boastful to raise your hand to indicate that you know the correct answer. Some teens have been taught to look down when speaking to adults (not to meet their eyes); this can be misinterpreted as signs of deceit or insolence by an uninformed teacher. Students whose homes are dissonant from their schools are less hopeful about the future, have lower self-esteem, have less faith in their academic talents, and have lower grade point averages than students whose homes and schools are more congruent.
Stressors
A large body of research has demonstrated that continual high levels of stress debilitate psychological well-being, physical health, and task performance. A number of studies have focused on the many sources of students’ stress while in school.
One source of stress comes from a lack of personal safety. Bullying is rampant. (And not only in the United States—a meta-analysis of bullying in 28 countries indicated that 10–20 percent of students are routinely bullied while at school.) Significant numbers of students report that someone hit, kicked, pushed, or threatened them; hence, they feel unsafe in their schools. Often students feel safe in parts of their school building but unsafe in others, such as certain corridors or in the restrooms (Astor et al., 1999).
Reasons That Students from Low-SES Backgrounds Drop Out
Why is the dropout rate higher among students from low-SES families? There are a number of considerations (Simons et al., 1991).
12.6: Wouldn’t You Like to Know . . .
What can parents do to help their adolescents be successful in school?
Parents can best help their adolescents do well in school by being enthusiastic, providing encouragement, and taking an active interest in their education. For instance, parents can make sure that their teens get their homework done, and they can get to know their children’s teachers. Parents should avoid putting too much pressure on their children, however, as this makes schoolwork unpleasant.
Fear of psychological or social harm can be stressful as well. Students become anxious if they fear being made fun of in front of other students or if they think a teacher is going to criticize them. Being made to feel inferior and ashamed, not being able to finish classroom work, and doing worse on a test than one should or than others did are stressful. Having to meet different teacher expectations in different classrooms can be a source of stress. Other stressful situations include having something stolen from your locker or seeing other students fighting in the lunchroom.
Summary: Education and School
Summary: Education and School
The earliest schools in America were largely religious institutions. Nonsectarian public schools, however, rapidly expanded during the 1800s.
For many years, there have been two opposing perspectives in American educational practice: traditionalism, which emphasizes teaching the basic academic subjects, and progressivism, which encourages the fostering of life skills and independent thought. These two perspectives wax and wane in popularity, depending on political and historical events.
Throughout the 1990s and continuing into the present, dissatisfaction with the U.S. educational system has led to experimentation with new methods and tools that are intended to improve student learning and retention. Charter schools, open enrollment, and home schooling, for example, have all become more common.
In 2001, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates stronger local control of schools, compulsory standardized testing, and an increased emphasis on reading and literacy. The measure has been controversial since its inception, but remains the existing law.
Middle schools, which were developed to meet the special needs of early adolescents, began replacing junior high school in the early 1970s. Not all “middle schools” in fact differ from junior high schools, except in the grade levels served. The larger size and more impersonal nature of middle schools, as compared with elementary schools, mean that students’ achievement and engagement often decrease when they reach middle school.
The most successful middle schools share a number of features: a task mastery structure, specially trained teachers, a rigorous curriculum that is presented as relevant to students’ lives, a caring and supportive atmosphere, and involved parents and community institutions.
All adolescents—high school students as well as those in middle school—benefit from attending smaller schools, where they feel safe, have opportunities to participate, and are treated fairly and with respect.
Traditionally, the average comprehensive high school offers three basic curricula: college preparatory, vocational, and general. Students in the general track tend to be more dissatisfied with their schools than students in the other two tracks. The lines between the vocational track (now termed “CTE”) have been diminished, and many students in the college preparatory track now take CTE courses. In some states, all students are in the college preparatory track.
In order to help students earn college credits before they graduate, most high schools now offer AP courses and dual enrollment programs.
Results from national surveys indicate that many high school students are not highly engaged in their school work, and do not find it challenging or relevant enough.
As alternative to local public schools, some students attend private schools, charter schools, magnet schools, or are homeschooled. As a whole, students who attend private schools fare better academically than those who attend public schools. Charter schools have not yet proved to be more effective overall than more traditional public schools. Homeschooled teens whose parents follow a standard curriculum as a group do well academically; those whose parents do not fare more poorly.
There are a number of reasons that pupils drop out of school, including low birth weight, truancy, socioeconomic factors, racial and ethnic prejudices and discrimination, disturbed family situations and negative parental influences, incongruence between home and school, emotional problems, negative social adjustments and peer associations, financial concerns, school failure, school stress, apathy, student alienation and dissatisfactions, and pregnancy and marriage.
It is very difficult for high school dropouts to find jobs. If they do find a job, it is usually low-paying and offers little chance of promotion. Because of this, the wage gap between high school graduates and dropouts continues to grow as they get older. Those with a GED fare better than dropouts, but not as well as those who have a traditional high school diploma.
It has become the norm for high schools to offer ways, including advanced placement courses and dual enrollment courses, for their students to earn college credit while still in high school.
College attendance has a number of real benefits, such as becoming a better critical thinker and increasing one’s social conscience. In addition, having a bachelor’s degree is valuable in acquiring a good job and earning a good salary.
Community college attendance has been rapidly increasing. Community colleges are designed to help.
Well-publicized incidents of school violence have focused attention on this issue. Students’ fear is largely unjustified in that students are safer from physical harm at school than away from it. There is a real likelihood that they will have something stolen from them while at school, however. Schools have become more security conscious in response to students’ and parents’ concerns.
Boredom and Alienation A large number of the dropouts’ responses include elements of boredom (uninteresting classes), lack of motivation, and disengagement from school (friends not in school). There are numerous ways to decrease boredom and enhance feelings of engagement; for example, curricula can be made more relevant, with clear ties to an individual’s future, and stronger, more personal relationships can be forged between teachers and students. In addition, students can be encouraged to develop their talents and interests through participation in extracurricular clubs and activities. Students who join the band or go out for sports are more likely to feel connected to their school (Brown & Evans, 2002).
There are numerous ways to decrease boredom and enhance feelings of engagement; for example, curricula can be made more relevant, with clear ties to an individual’s future, and stronger, more personal relationships can be forged between teachers and students. In addition, students can be encouraged to develop their talents and interests through participation in extracurricular clubs and activities. Students who join the band or go out for sports are more likely to feel connected to their school (Brown & Evans, 2002).
Below is an excerpt from Adolescent Development on the 5 Cs
Dolgin, K. G. (2018). The adolescent: Development, relationships, and culture (14 th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
16.1: Positive Youth Development
Objective: Characterize successful youth development programs
There is no one accepted definition of positive youth development (Lerner et al., 2009). To some, it is synonymous with healthy adjustment (e.g., Shek et al., 2007), whereas to others it means avoidance of harmful activities (Tebes et al., 2007). Indeed, much of what we know about positive youth development comes from analyzing prevention programs that were designed to provide skills, establish relationships, and increase self-esteem so that adolescents avoid harmful behaviors and become well-functioning adults.
Prevention efforts are aimed at eliminating problem behaviors before they even occur. Many experts believe that greater efforts should be placed on prevention, for several reasons.
First, a single program can effectively and concurrently reduce the risks of several undesirable behaviors, such as substance abuse and dropping out. (This makes sense, as has been said before, because the same stressors are responsible for multiple problems.)
In addition, prevention measures eliminate or reduce the trauma experienced by adolescents as well as their families and their victims (if any).
Finally, prevention programs can eliminate the spiral of defeat, whereby one problem leads to or at least exacerbates others. Positive youth development prevention efforts differ from more narrowly focused prevention efforts (such as informational lectures on the dangers of unsafe sexual practices or substance abuse) as the latter do not give students the life skills they need for success (Roth, 2000).
What makes a successful youth development program? By examining the literature and 71 existing successful programs, Roth and Brooks-Gunn (2003) identified a triad of attributes.
First, the programs must contain the right goals. That is, they work not only to prevent high-risk activities but also to build skills and competencies and to foster connections with others.
Second, they accomplish these goals by providing the right activities. Most of the successful programs allowed participants opportunities to practice decision making, feel challenged, and perform community service.
The third leg of the triad was that the programs had the right atmosphere, which involved feelings of safety and support. Most of these programs encourage the formation of mentoring relationships between adults and teens. In order to be successful, services must be sustained rather than short term (Roth, 2000).
Lerner and her colleagues (2009) combined the work of a number of researchers in this field to develop the “5 Cs” model of positive youth development. Specifically, positive youth development involves helping teens develop competence, confidence, connection, character, and compassion (see Figure 16.1). Certainly, youth who have developed these attributes are on the right path to leading productive, satisfying lives!
Figure 16.1 The 5 Cs Model of Positive Youth Development
Figure 16.1 Full Alternative Text
Reed Larson and his colleagues (Larson, 2011; Salusky et al., 2014) have a different emphasis in their description of the benefits of youth development programs: They say that participating in these experiences helps teens acquire a sense of responsibility. How? By giving them duties and therefore making them practice being responsible. (We know from previous research that one learns to be responsible via practice, e.g., Wood et al., 2009.) These programs, they claim, work best when the responsibilities become progressively more demanding and challenging: This builds skills and fosters a sense of efficacy (Salusky et al., 2014). Other beneficial attributes are that the tasks are open-ended rather than narrowly defined (so that the adolescents must figure out how to accomplish the goals themselves), when they are given adequate-but-not-suffocating support, and when the goals require teamwork.
Successful programs must engage youth and attract them to participate. According to Anderson-Butcher (2005), teens express an interest in taking part in programs that are accessible in terms of location and time, expand their horizons and increase the quality of their lives, help them with their schoolwork or meet their needs in other ways, challenge them and let them experience a sense of mastery, enhance their physical fitness, give them choices, and let them make and be with friends.
The take-away message is that these programs do exist, and we have the means to help ensure that adolescents navigate the teenage years successfully. It is within our power to substantially reduce delinquency, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and academic disengagement. We have the know-how to help teens feel good about themselves and have faith in their futures. What we need is the resolution and the resources to make this happen.