Lower academic achievement can lead to high dropout rates, especially for students in poverty. With respect to the topic of school size, whether large-size or small-size schools are better with respect to student achievement, is an ongoing argument. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the degree to which differences might be present…

In the state of Texas, schools are graded on a system of accountability based on four performance indexes. Based on the scores for these indexes, schools are rated as Met Standard, Met Alternative Standard, Improvement Required, or Not Rated (Texas Education Agency, 2015a). Through the research findings, this study aimed to assist schools and…

In the United States, seven thousand students drop out of school every day (Alliance for Excellence Education, 2010); that is more than one million per year (Balfanz & Bridgeland, 2014). Administrators, former educators and private entities have taken an interest in the dropout epidemic and have developed numerous dropout prevention and…

The Communities In Schools (CIS) Model of Integrated Student Supports aims to reduce dropout rates by providing students with integrated and tiered support services based on their levels of need. The model includes preventive services that are available to all students (Level 1 services) as well as intensive, targeted, and sustained services…

The Communities In Schools (CIS) Model of Integrated Student Supports aims to reduce dropout rates by providing students with integrated and tiered support services based on their levels of need. The model includes preventive services that are available to all students (Level 1 services) as well as intensive, targeted, and sustained services…

Public high schools today are faced with the challenge of preparing a diverse student population for both post-secondary education and entering the work force. However, they are doing so under the constraints of an educational structure that was developed years ago and one that has failed to adapt to the many changes in society. Schools are…

Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the impact that function, experience, and training of Independent School District School Resource Officers (ISD SROs) have on school climate. The participants were ISD SROs (n = 172) and teachers (n = 162) located in middle and high schools in Texas. Method: The Role of Law…

American public schools are in crisis. Schools across America are grasping to change curriculum, build learning communities, and increase teacher accountability to meet the moving target of the demands placed on them by "No Child Left Behind." As the deadline of 2014 grows nearer with every passing year, accountability standards increase…

Attrition rates are an indicator of a school's holding power, or ability to keep students enrolled in school and learning until they graduate. This study examines regional trends in Texas for the number and percent of students lost from public high school enrollment prior to graduation. A comparative analysis of 1985-86, 2005-06, 2006-07,…

Few people realize the impact that high school dropouts have on a community's economic, social, and civic health. Business owners and residents--in particular, those without school-aged children--may not be aware that they have much at stake in the success of their local high schools. Indeed, everyone--from car dealers and realtors to bank…

In the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District has achieved a startling success over the last two years: it has recovered and graduated over 600 dropouts and put them on a clear pathway to college. Just a few years ago, low graduation rates, struggling high schools, and poor staff and student morale…

The primary focus of the study was to explore the effect of School Within a School reform on two components in the Adequate Yearly Progress Report by which Texas schools are measured--dropout rates and scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test. The demographics of the particular study sample included 11th grade students…

High dropout rates continue to be a silent epidemic afflicting the nation's schools. Although some measurable progress is being made in some school districts and states to raise high school graduation rates, and federal, state, and local policies and practices are changing to meet the dropout challenge, the nation's progress is too slow and the…

Graduation and dropout rates are the center of the conversation about high school reform, with President Obama and the U.S. Department of Education leading the charge to boost high school and college graduation rates among our nation's students in the next ten years. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive approach to keeping teens in school and…

Nearly 7,000 students drop out of the nation's public high schools each school day, and 3,000 of them are in the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states. Altogether, an estimated 1.3 million teenagers in the United States abandon high school each year without earning a diploma. In 1,700 of the nation's high schools, less than 60 percent of…