DROPOUT PREVENTION 
 
  EVERY YEAR, CLOSE TO ONE-THIRD OF EIGHTEEN YEAR OLDS do not finish high school. The dropout rates for minority students, students from low-income families, and disabled students are even higher. This is not just a problem affecting certain individuals and schools, it is a community-wide problem that affects everyone. High school dropouts commit about 75 percent of crimes in the United States and are much more likely to be on public assistance than those who complete high school. The cost to the public for these crime and welfare benefits is close to $200 billion annually. Dropouts earn only about 60 percent of what high school graduates earn and only about 40 percent of the income of college degree holders – resulting in about $50 billon dollars in lost state and federal tax revenues each year. Dropouts are much more likely to have health problems than non-dropouts. A 1% increase in high school completion rate would save the United States $1.4 billion annually in health care costs.

For decades, educators have labored to help these kids but a community-wide problem needs a community-wide solution. Moreover, schools want community help. A survey conducted by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change in 2003 found that 93 percent of literacy workers said they could use more volunteers to help people learn to read, 75 percent of public educators said they could use more volunteers to work in classrooms and 60 percent of teachers said they could use more people to assist with the collection of donated books and other school supplies. The demand for help is as great as the scope of the problem. What can communities do to help stem this tide?

What Dropouts Say

In order for the community to intervene and help dropouts, community members must know what dropouts, themselves, think about their situation. Civic Enterprises recently interviewed dropouts and asked them what they thought would have improved their ability to finish school. Responses indicated that clear supports provided within a school environment and also from the community would improve a potential dropout’s chance for staying in school. Dropouts said that the following could help them:

 Improve teaching and curricula to enhance the connection between school and work. 81% of dropouts said there should be more opportunities for “real-world” learning so that students can see the connection between school and getting a job. (Civic Enterprises 2006)
 Improve access to support for struggling students. 81% of dropouts surveyed wanted “better” teachers. 75% wanted smaller classes. 70% believed that more tutoring, summer school and extra time with teachers would have improved their chances of graduating. (Civic Enterprises 2006)
 Foster academics. 70% of dropouts said that “increasing supervision in school” and 62% said “more classroom discipline” was necessary to ensure success. 57% said that their schools “did not do enough” to help student’s feel safe from violence. (Civic Enterprises 2006)
 Promote close relationships with adults. Only 41% of dropouts reported having someone to talk to about personal problems. 62% said they would like to see schools do more to help students with problems outside of class. Only 47% said the schools even bothered to contact them after they dropped out. (Civic Enterprises 2006)

Model Programs

Youth mentoring programs exist to provide role models and help a child develop socially and emotionally. Mentors help kids understand and communicate their feelings, relate to their peers, develop relationships with other adults and stay in school. Community members are often willing and able to serve as mentors but do not know how to get involved in schools. Following is a list of successful mentoring programs other communities have adopted that might serve as starting points:

Entrepreneurship Education Programs are run in various cities across the country. Many dropouts and at-risk students complain that they do not see a connection between schooling and job skills. EEP seek to remedy this problem by involving local business people in high schools to help students discover how their education will impact their future. These programs involves students in specific projects so they can make a concrete connection between the skills they are learning in school and those needed to be successful in the global economy. More information.

Families and Schools Together (F.A.S.T.) operates in Wisconsin schools and targets the families of potential drop-outs. It provides 8-week sessions hosted by educators and community volunteers who attempt to build bonds of trust between the families, community and schools and create supportive networks children can use as their education progresses. The program also has components to address substance-abuse problems. More information.

Good Shepherd Services in New York, New York is a non-sectarian program that has involved the community with at-risk youth for almost 150 years. Community members provide tutoring and mentor relationships for students in local high schools. The program also provides job-training and support services for family members of at-risk students who are often, themselves, at need for community support. More information.

Skills to Empower People Socially (S.T.E.P.S.) is an anti-truancy program operating in Irving, Texas that involves the community in the lives of at-risk youth. The program matches students up with adult mentors and helps improve study skills. A report from the National Dropout Prevention Center, “Truancy Prevention in Action: Planning, Collaboration and Implementation Strategies for Truancy Programs”, is also available that describes how community groups can start similar anti-truancy programs (Cloud and Duttweiler 2006). More information on S.T.E.P.S. or the NDPC report.

Project Respect is an effort of Pueblo School District #60 designed to involve the community in the lives of at risk youth and their families. Community advocates are assigned to participants to help the families get involved in their children’s education. Tutoring is available for students who need it and mental health professionals can assist families with problems too complicated for the community. More information.

Factors that Lead to Dropping Out

If community members are to get involved in the dropout problem, they should be aware of the kinds of factors that place children at risk of dropping out. Youth Transitions research findings based on surveys, interviews and focus groups with Boston-area students, parents, teachers and youth service providers show that many factors are at work in the decision to dropout:

 The relationship between students and teachers are the most important factor in student’s school experience, whether positive or negative. (BYTF 2006)
 The disruptiveness of peers in school causes students to feel distracted and unsafe, leading to increased chance of dropping out. (BYTF 2006)
 The pace of instruction is an important reason youth give for leaving school – students who need extra attention and don’t receive it are likely to dropout. (BYTF 2006)
 Personal problems cause youth to leave school if they do not have a trusted adult from whom they can seek help. (BYTF 2006)
 Students in small alternative programs appreciate the increased attention and the opportunity to work at their own pace. (BYTF 2006)
 Weak academic skills can cripple efforts to recover dropouts in “second chance” programs unless they receive even more attention from community volunteers. (BYTF 2006)
 Economic needs can compete with pursuing education after dropping out. (BYTF 2006)
 Students who come from single parent families, have a mother who dropped out of high school, have parents who provide low support for learning, or have parents who do not know their friends’ parents well are also all at a higher risk of dropping out than other students. (BYTF 2006)

For many years, solutions to these problems have been sought as a matter of education policy. While policy reform is certainly important, community involvement in schools can immediately mitigate some of these negative factors that increase the chance of dropping out. Educators want increased community involvement in schools and community members want to help. The problem they face is figuring out how to get started. The Pew Partnership has produced a Community Discussion Guide to help interested community groups and educators learn how to discover the extent of the dropout problem in their area, find creative ways to get involved with at-risk youth and get others involved in keeping children in school.