NOTES..............................

According to a national survey, students who dropped out of high school while maintaining a high GPA and working hard through their own motivation did so because they did not think the classes were interesting (47 percent), did not find the school interesting (42 percent), and lack of motivation and aspirations (69 percent) (Bridgeland, DiIulio, & Morison, 2006, p. iii). 

The dropouts have a negative impact on the economy requiring states and the federal government to spend money each year for the construction of new jails/prisons (Dillon, 2009). 

The problem puts the US in a less competitive position as a nation (The Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007).

High school dropouts are students “16- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in high school and who lack a high school credential” (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2010, Table A-19-2).  Credentials include “high school diploma or equivalent credential such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate” (NCES, 2010, Table A-19-2).

The most prominent indicators that a student is at risk of dropping out of high school during their first year of high school are (1) absent more than ten percent of the time, (2) two or more failed core course(s), (3) grade point average is below 2.0, and/or (4) has not completed a minimum of one-fourth of the credits needed to graduate (Heppen & Therriault, 2008, Table 2). 

The most impacting factors affecting high school dropouts' attitudes about finishing high school were behavioral (e.g. motivation, class participation, homework completion, attendance and their relationships with their teachers) (Somers, et al., 2009).  The students did exhibit a strong desire to finish high school but needed some help in converting that desire into their academic performance (Somers, et al., 2009).  

High School Dropouts Statistics

Do declines in school dropout rates affect crime?  FEB. '11
Crime in America.  The data presented below is from “Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 1972–2008” from the US Department of Education.  The data provides different findings for different groups but in essence, dropout rates “…trended downward…from 1995 through 2008.” As for income, “In the last 13 years (1995–2008), the rates for low-income and middle-income families trended downward.”

High School Dropout Rates 2011
Dropout rates among the population ages 16 to 24 declined between 1972 and 2009, from 15 to eight percent.    However, wide disparities by race, Hispanic origin, and foreign-born status persist.

High School Dropout Statistics  JAN. '10
The student:

• Regularly misses school, continued absences leading to poor academic performance and noninvolvement in school activities.
• Does not participate in extracurricular activities.
• Receives more counseling than most students.
• Exhibits a genuine dislike for school.
• Typically has poor grades.
• Is one or two academic levels below grade level.
• Has been retained one or more times.
• Has failed three to five classes by high school.
• Struggles with discipline.
• Comes from a low socio-economic background.
• Has a family that moves a lot.

Do we really understand the impact of HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS?????

HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS COSTLY FOR AMERICA   MAY '10
Dropouts cost taxpayers more than $8 billion annually in public assistance programs like food stamps. High school dropouts earn about $10 thousand less a year than workers with diplomas. That's $300 billion in lost earnings every year. They're more likely to be unemployed: 15 percent are out of work versus a national average of 9.4 percent. They also are more likely to be incarcerated. Almost 60 percent of federal inmates are high school drop outs.

OBAMA TAKES AIM AT SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES   MAR '10
President Obama pledged today to tackle the dropout rate of American high school students, calling it an economic imperative if the United States intends to remain competitive in the global society.

DROPOUT RATES - FAST FACTS   2010
The status dropout rate represents the percentage of 16- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in school and have not earned a high school credential (either a diploma or an equivalency credential such as a General Educational Development [GED] certificate).   The status dropout rate declined from 14 percent in 1980 to 8 percent in 2008. A significant part of this decline occurred between 2000 and 2008 (from 11 percent to 8 percent). Status dropout rates and changes in these rates over time differed by race/ethnicity. In general, the status dropout rates for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics each declined between 1980 and 2008. However, in each year during that period, the status dropout rate was lower for Whites and Blacks than for Hispanics. In addition, the rate for Asians/Pacific Islanders was lower than that for Hispanics and Blacks every year between 1989 and 2008. Although the gaps between the rates of Blacks and Whites, Hispanics and Whites, and Hispanics and Blacks have decreased, the decreases occurred in different time periods. The Black-White gap narrowed during the 1980s, with no measurable change between 1990 and 2008. In contrast, the Hispanic-White and Hispanic-Black gaps narrowed between 1990 and 2008, with no measurable change in the gaps during the 1980s.

High School Dropouts in America  FEB. '09

Over a million of the students who enter ninth grade each fall fail to graduate with their peers four years later. In fact, about seven thousand students drop out every school day.

HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS   JAN. '07

High school dropouts are three times as likely to slip into poverty as those who finish high school from one year to the next; they make up nearly half of the heads of households receiving public assistance.

THE SILENT EPIDEMIC - PERSPECTIVES OF HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS   MAR. '06
There is a high school dropout epidemic in America. Each year, almost one third of all public high school students – and nearly one half of all blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans – fail to graduate from public high school with their class. Many of these students abandon school with less than two years to complete their high school education.

HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES   MAR. '96
The news media and others often quote high school dropout rates as an indication of the success or failure of American schools. However, the rates quoted may differ significantly from time to time or from one publication to another. Why is this? What is the true dropout rate?   The answer is not as clear as one might want: there are different definitions of what it means to graduate from high school and there are wide differences in who is counted as a dropout. In addition, there are a number of ways the student dropout rate can be calculated.