Stop the Drop and Enroll

How can we designed a plan to minimize school drop-out rates and increase the student success rate for at-risk youth?

Most states and school districts define the term dropout as "a student that leaves school for any reason before graduation or completion of a program of study without transferring to another school or institution" (Webb, Metha, & Jordon, 2007, p. 253). 

For these students, the ramifications of their decision to leave school are momentous. For example, throughout their lifetime, students who decide to drop out of high school will earn an estimated $370,000 less than their friends that graduate (Webb et al.). 

The statistics indicate that as many as 17% of dropouts find themselves in poverty (Webb et al.), 60% of prison inmates are dropouts, and 79% of teen parents become dropouts, (Morrison, 2003). 

In order to combat this dismal future, it is essential for educators to identify those students that are most at risk for making the decision to drop out of school.

We need to design preventative and intervention strategies that may stop students from dropping out from school.

Because the dropout issue is so serious, punitive and/ or disincentive policies have also been implemented in some states. The most controversial of these policies are the no pass, no drive laws that do exactly what they state. Those students that drop out of school or are chronically truant are subject to having their drivers' licenses revoked.

Ultimately, it is caring teachers and parents that can have the most impact on students. 

Throughout the last twenty years, while the percentage varies slightly, about 5% of students drop out of high school each year (Johnson et al., 2005). Hispanics are twice as likely as African Americans to drop out of school and 4 times more likely than Caucasians (Webb et al., 2007). 

The goal for all these strategies is to keep at-risk students in school so they can have a chance at a positive and happy future.