The quality of a school's social environment is critically related to student outcomes, including academic performance, attendance, student behavior, and high school completion rates. New Hampshire engaged in a dropout prevention initiative between 2006 and 2012 that focused on implementation of the multitiered Positive Behavioral Interventions…

The transition into high school is a traumatic event in an adolescent's life. Students face several emotional challenges during their high school years as they struggle to gain a sense of self, develop the tools needed to advocate for their own needs, and navigate the demands of a new school. A successful transition into high school has a…

This publication is a series of in-depth case studies to examine how three programs which serve a disconnected youth population are utilizing data as a tool for continuous program improvement and ongoing accountability. The report features the following programs: (1) Roca, an organization in Massachusetts which engages the highest-risk youth in…

A mixed method, longitudinal design was used to assess student and stakeholder perceptions of the transition to high school. Comparisons between parent and student perceptions revealed few differences and both groups were generally optimistic about entering the Freshmen Center. Following the transition, student perceptions exhibited important…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Education Secretary Outlines Obama Education Agenda: In Appearance Before House Committee, Duncan Stresses Reform…

The merits of a public campaign can rarely be gauged fully in its early months or even in its initial year. Rather, the true measures of a campaign's successes are revealed over time: in its ongoing impacts on opinion or policy, and on the tangible results it achieves. On both accounts, Philadelphia's Project U-Turn campaign continues to make…

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…

The high school dropout rate among immigrant students has become a serious problem in many places around the world. Hidden dropout or irregular school attendance may be the first stage of school dropout. This article examines the hidden dropout phenomenon among Ethiopian immigrant adolescents aged 14-18 in Israel, as a prototype of immigration…

This article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to investigate high school dropout and its association with the high school curriculum. In particular, it examines how combinations of career and technical education (CTE) and core academic courses influence the likelihood of leaving school. Hazards models indicate a…

Used data from a sample of Australian teenagers to investigate neighborhood effects on school dropout rate, examining both small and large neighborhood effects. Student surveys indicated that the educational composition of the larger neighborhoods influenced dropout rates, and the low socioeconomic status of the immediate neighborhood had an…

Many studies of high school dropout rates have compared the number of graduates with the number of enrolled freshmen. An adequate representation of the dropout rate, however, must combine all categories of leaving school before graduation, and a longitudinal approach must be employed. A joint venture between the Chicago Panel on Public School…

This report presents statistical data on the dropout rates in Massachusetts public schools for 1990. The data were gathered through a state mandated annual survey of the state's public schools. Dropouts are defined as students aged 16 years or older who leave school prior to graduation for reasons other than transfer to another school. The report…

This summary of a 1983 report by ASPIRA of New York on the state of minority secondary education in New York focuses on the dropout problem in New York City's public high schools. The summary also includes additional background information and makes clear ASPIRA's official position on the dropout question. The summary begins by presenting an…

This report examines the extent to which welfare reform is changing adolescent behaviors that lead to welfare dependency. It begins by discussing the provisions in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 that require teenagers to stay in school and live with a parent, concluding that relatively little can be…

Nested latent variable causal models were contrasted to compare the relationships of distal family and child and proximal adolescent factors to dropping out of high school in a sample of 194 Euro-American families over 19 years. Dropping out was a multiply-determined process with early influences developing in childhood. (SLD)