High School Dropout Research Paper

1. Problems In Calculating The Dropout Rate

A major challenge facing any study of high school dropout is how to define and identify the dropout population. There is some agreement, among American researchers at least, that students who were enrolled in grades 10, 11, or 12, but left school without graduating are to be defined as dropouts. However, this definition is often not viable in other countries. In international comparison, school systems not only differ with respect to the organization of primary and secondary schools, forms of ability grouping, and curricula, they also differ in terms of the age at which students are allowed to leave school. While students in the UK and most states of the USA are legally obliged to attend school until the age of 16, for example, students in other countries (e.g., Germany) are not allowed to leave school until they are 18. As a consequence of the different lengths of compulsory schooling, the probability that a student will drop out between the ages of 16 and 18 varies from country to country. Furthermore, there is some evidence that high schools tend to overestimate the percentage of dropout (e.g., Rumberger et al. 1990), and it has been argued that ‘dropout data are probably the least reliable information available today regarding the reality of schools’ (Frymier 1996, p. 4).

Beyond these problems of definition, it is characteristic of almost all industrialized countries that school participation rates increased continuously during the twentieth century. In the USA, for example, the proportion of 14to 17-year-olds enrolled in high school increased from 11 percent in 1900 to 94 percent in 1978. However, dropout rates have been relatively stable since the beginning of the 1970s (between 5 and 10 percent in industrialized countries).

2. Factors Influencing High School Dropout

Three major directions of research into the antecedents of high school dropout can be distinguished, although there is substantial theoretical overlap between the three approaches. While the first two types of research concentrate on family background and school variables from the sociological perspective, the third— more psychological—approach focuses on individual characteristics in terms of achievement and motivation.

2.1 Family Background And High School Dropout

Where family background is concerned, the determinants found to be of importance for academic achievement have also been considered with respect to dropout (e.g., Rumberger 1983, Rumberger and Thomas 2000). Parents’ level of education represents a potential predictor of dropout, that is, better educated parents spend more time with their children, thus supporting their accomplishments and increasing the likelihood that they will remain in school. Furthermore, these parents influence the academic performance of their children by imparting the values, aspirations, and motivation needed to succeed and remain in school. With regard to parental income, children from poor families probably feel more pressure to contribute to the family income, and thus leave school to seek work at an earlier stage. Family structures are also important, in that children from broken homes where one or both parents are absent are less likely to receive the support and encouragement needed to stay in school. The absence of parents, however, is often combined with financial problems that might explain the dropout. In a more detailed analysis of family influences, Rumberger et al. (1990) investigated the interaction styles between parents and children and the consequences for dropout. Dropouts were more likely to live in households characterized by a permissive or an authoritarian parenting style, their parents were more likely to use extrinsic punishments as a reaction to poor grades, and reacted with more negative emotions to both good and bad school grades. Furthermore, dropout students reported that their parents were less involved in their education and gave them less help with their homework.

In the USA, in particular, relations between ethnic group membership and high school dropout have been investigated, and higher percentages of dropout have been reported for Hispanic and African-American students. In a study investigating primary reasons for dropout, Rumberger (1983) found out that African-American females most often cited marriage and pregnancy as reasons for leaving school. However, if SES and individual achievement are held constant, the relationship between ethnic background and dropout diminishes or reverses, thus suggesting that the association is mainly mediated by family background and individual levels of achievement (e.g., McNeal 1995).

2.2 School Characteristics And High School Dropout

School characteristics have been investigated in research on school effectiveness. Authors agree that not only academic achievement, but dropping out of school is a reliable indicator of school effectiveness. Rumberger and Thomas (2000) identify school resources, structural characteristics of schools, and school processes as factors, which can influence high school dropout. With regard to the financial resources of schools, research shows that the student-teacher ratio is positively related to high school dropout. Furthermore, there is some evidence that a higher percentage of teachers with advanced degrees increase the likelihood that students will remain in high school.

Structural characteristics such as school location (urban, suburban, rural), size, and type (state vs. private) also seem to influence dropout, even when important individual and family characteristics are controlled. Research by Pittman and Haughtwout (1987) revealed a positive correlation between high school size and dropout rate. Mediation analyses demonstrated that this effect was mediated primarily by the social climate (sense of cohesion, level of student participation in school activities, interaction with faculty, the magnitude of certain problems at the school), and indicated that smaller schools had a better social climate and consequently lower dropout rates. Private schools usually have lower dropout rates than state schools (e.g., Rumberger and Thomas 2000), and students attending urban schools are more likely to drop out than their counterparts in suburban schools (e.g., Frymier 1996).

Research on school processes has identified a number of school-related variables that influence dropout rates. A higher level of cooperation between teachers and students seems to reduce dropout rates and, with regard to the academic climate, Bryk and Thum (1989) found that dropout rates were lower in schools in which students took more advanced courses and reported doing more homework. Bryk and Thum also reported that high schools with serious staffing problems had higher dropout rates.

Rumberger and Thomas (2000) suggested that because schools are anxious to show that their students’ test scores are improving, they actively reduce the membership of low-achieving students through a process of discharge. This process affects not only low achieving students, but also hard-to-educate students. Since both variables are confounded with SES and ethnicity, these school processes usually lead to higher dropout rates for students with low SES, and for Hispanic and African-American students.

2.3 Individual Determinants Of High School Dropout

Although many background and school variables are important antecedents of dropout, a more psychological view of the problem suggests that the concrete decision of whether or not to carry on or leave school is guided by individual characteristics such as attitudes and motivational states. Schools, parents, and teachers provide an academic environment, and students’ perceptions of this environment determine their achievement motivation, their behavioral intentions, and their academic behavior and choices. In one of the few psychological studies on reasons for dropout, Vallerand et al. (1997) proposed a model assuming self-determined academic motivation to be an important factor influencing behavioral intentions and dropout behavior. Their study suggests that students who perceive their parents, teachers, and school administrations as supportive develop a higher level of perceived competence and academic autonomy, and that this leads to higher intrinsic academic motivation and a lower likelihood of leaving school without graduating.

Expectancy-value models (e.g., Wigfield and Eccles 2000) suggest that academic choices are based mainly on expectancies of success in the domain of choice, and on how students value the domain. Both expectancies and values are based on family background, school and class variables, and previous individual achievement-related experiences. Low expectancies and values with respect to the future school career increase the probability of dropping out.

3. Prevention Of High School Dropout

Low levels of academic achievement (e.g., Caliste 1984) and high absenteeism (e.g., Bryk and Thum 1989) are the strongest behavioral predictors of high school dropout. Several authors (e.g., Simner and Barnes 1991) have pointed out that the earlier a student with low achievement levels and high absenteeism can be identified, the more likely is it that dropout prevention will be successful. An effective 12- week prevention program proposed by Caliste (1984) first identifies at-risk students (grade-point averages below 1.0 on a 4.0 scale). These students receive extra tuition from their teachers and participate in group counseling sessions. Topics discussed during the weekly counseling sessions include motivation, relevance of school, academic problems, career goals, and study habits. In the tutoring sessions, students are primarily assisted with current coursework and given some remedial instruction.

Participation in out-of-school activities, particularly sports clubs, can also prevent dropout. McNeal (1995) argues that higher social integration in both school and in non-academic clubs influences whether or not students remain in school. His analyses show that for low-achieving students (one standard deviation below the population mean) not involved in sports clubs, the probability of dropout is p=0.25, while for members of sports clubs the probability is only p=0.17.

Finally, authors agree that children from disadvantaged family backgrounds need particular social and financial support. Females, especially African-Americans, often leave school without graduating because of marriage and pregnancy. Day-care programs are viable measures to prevent drop out here.

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