The study in this article identifies three major risk categories of high school dropouts and evaluates the impact of possible prevention strategies. As students accumulate these risks, they became more likely to drop out and prevention programs become less effective. Additionally, it was found that factors influencing the decision to drop out vary…

With more than one million students dropping out of high school each year, Grad Nation is specifically designed to offer solutions and tools for every size community and presents a compelling case for all sectors of society to get involved. The guidebook is part of the Alliance's Dropout Prevention Campaign. The guide brings together the nation's…

Across the nation, school policymakers are grappling with what to do about the increasing numbers of students who do not advance beyond ninth grade. National estimates put the student attrition rate before tenth grade at between 11 and 33 percent, and only about 70 percent of ninth graders make it to graduation. This policy brief focuses on one…

Getting and keeping "all" young people engaged in learning and on track to graduate from high school ready for college and the 21st century workplace is going to require wider, deeper, and more systemic change. Recent policy focus on raising standards for high school graduation and aligning high school curriculum to college entrance requirements…

Universities are not immune to the effects of the slumping economy, yet many of them are reporting their highest application and enrollment rates ever, as hard times compel people to look for new ways to increase their skills. Students' efforts to improve their job prospects, along with colleges' marketing efforts, have, indeed, translated to…

The "New Century High Schools Initiative" is a program designed to improve large, under-performing high schools by transforming them into small schools with links to community organizations. "New Century High Schools" each have about 400 students; the small size is intended to foster strong relationships between students and…

This Evidence Based Education (EBE) response describes characteristics of graduation coach initiatives in three states (Georgia, Alabama, and California). Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast has received over 19 requests for information on various initiatives, programs or research related to improving graduation rates. For example, the…

America continues to make progress in meeting its high school dropout challenge. Leaders in education, government, nonprofits and business have awakened to the individual, social and economic costs of the dropout crisis and are working together to solve it. This year, all states, districts, and schools are required by law to calculate high school…

Career academies, after more than four decades of development and three decades of evaluation, have been found by a conclusive random assignment study to be effective in improving outcomes for students during and after high school. Career academies have therefore become the most durable and best-tested component of a high school reform strategy to…

Schools face the dilemma of transforming both the trend of students dropping out of school and the associated negative socioeconomic outcomes into a positive path of persistence and school completion. Despite ongoing efforts of the federal and state government, as well as those of the local school districts, this problem continues to burden the…

This report analyzes the economic and social costs of the high school dropout problem in Montana from the perspective of a state taxpayer. The majority of the authors' analysis considers the consequences of this problem in terms of labor market, tax revenue, and public service costs. In quantifying these costs, the authors seek to inform public…

The Center for Law and Education (CLE), a national advocacy organization with offices in Boston and Washington, D.C., strives to assist low-income students, parents, and advocates improve their public schools and work with their communities to fulfill every student's right to a high-quality education. In Massachusetts, CLE provides legal support…

Researchers use many different methods to calculate the high school dropout rate, and depending on the approach, the numbers can look very different. But, no matter which method is used, the key finding is the same: too many students are leaving school without the knowledge and skills they need to meet the demands of twenty-first century…

The "National Dropout Prevention Newsletter" is published quarterly by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Intercepting the Dropout Trajectory (JoAnne Malloy); (2) The NH APEX Dropout Prevention Model; (3) How PBIS Can Lead to School Improvement (Julie King and JoAnne Malloy);…

In this article, three practitioners--a superintendent, a principal, and a teacher--examine how and why students drop out. The superintendent shares a new strategy to lower dropout rates, the principal discusses what are essential for schools that want to improve the achievement and graduation rates of English language learner (ELL) students, and…