School Dropout: Causes, Consequences

and Characteristics
The school dropout it is the phenomenon in which the student stops attending the
classrooms and stays out of the educational system without receiving a school
diploma. This phenomenon is usually seen in Latin America, given that it is a region
with high dropout rates.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), school dropouts have
some main causes: malnourished children or children who need to go to work
thanks to the poor environment, social exclusion or schools with reduced capacity.

School desertion manifests itself especially in underdeveloped and developing

countries, in which the phenomenon is observed between the last years of primary
and secondary school. In industrialized nations the abandonment occurs in tertiary
education or university studies.

It is estimated that close to 50 million young people in Latin America have not been
able to complete their studies.

Index

 1 Types
o 1.1 According to the duration (temporary or definitive)
o 1.2 According to the scope
o 1.3 According to the moment in which it occurs
 2 Causes
o 2.1 Intra school
o 2.2 Extra school children
o 2.3 Other causes
 3 Consequences
 4 Signs of school dropout
 5 Dropout in Mexico
 6 Prevention programs in Latin America to prevent school dropouts
o 6.1 Conditional cash transfers
o 6.2 Acceleration of learnings
 o 6.3 I do not abandon
o 6.4 I'm in
o 6.5 Inclusive schools
o 6.6 Other initiatives
 7 References

Types
The dropout can be classified as follows:

According to the duration (temporary or definitive)

There are students who return to the classroom after a period, while others leave
the system permanently.

According to the scope

In some cases the desertion is not given as a whole due to the transfer of a student
to another educational institution. However, this phenomenon must be studied by
these institutions.

According to the moment in which it occurs

This depends on the trajectory that the student has made and the educational level
that has reached: preschool, primary, secondary, middle or university.

Causes
The desertion finds different causes that explain the phenomenon. The two main
causes are intra-school and extra-curricular.

Intra school
They have to do with the causes or internal factors of the student. Among them, the
following stand out:

- Behavior problems .

- Learning problems.
- Emotional disorders .

- Lack of motivation and / or interest.

- Active social life after school activities.

- Little identification with the school.

- Low performance.

- Repetition. This particular factor has been increasing with the passage of time. The
increase in the figure intensifies, especially in the high school years. It may have to
do with the lack of adaptation of the passage from primary to secondary school.

Extra school children

In this category external causes converge, ranging from the socioeconomic to the
familiar.

- Labor insertion. Due to the economic problems of the family nucleus, the student
sees the need to work and, therefore, drop out of school.

- Pregnancy.

- Parents have low expectations regarding academic training.

- Parents who have not received an education

- Lack of fixed residence.

- Insufficient income in the home.

- Schools located at great distances. In view of this, children must travel several
kilometers until they reach their destination. This affects regular attendance at
classes.

- The desertion of other relatives.

- Little conversation about the school.

Other causes
- Teachers. In a first aspect, the poor working conditions in which teachers find
themselves have an impact on desertion. It also affects the poor training and
preparation of them.

- Low allocation to the school budget, which affects the sufficiency of school
materials as well as the conditions of schools and public institutions.

- Ganging

- Bullying or bullying

- Gender stereotypes.

- Problems in terms of age, cultural or socioeconomic and ethnic level.

Consequences
- The school dropout will have a great impact on human capital, as it negatively
affects social, economic and political processes in terms of the projection of
development of a country.

- Generate high social and private costs because they result in the recruitment of a
less qualified workforce.

- For the State, it is also expensive because it is obliged to carry out and finance
social programs.

- Those who are outside the education system are part of unemployed and socially
excluded groups. In addition to this, these people can be part of criminal and
violent groups.

- Increase in social inequalities, which generate a lack of integration among

individuals.

- Lack of education prevents men and women from being able to escape from
poverty because they do not have the mental or physical capacities to aspire to a
stable and well-paid job.

- Decrease in the development of economies.

Signs of school dropout

Although the causes and consequences are clear, it is believed that it is possible to
handle school desertion at the moment in which it is possible to detect the signs
that indicate that this phenomenon could be triggered.

This is mainly due to the fact that school dropout is considered as a cumulative
process of three key signs:

- Absenteeism.

- Deviant behavior.

- Performance.

With attention to these elements it will be easier for teachers, parents and
representatives to make an intervention on time.

Dropout in Mexico
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) indicated
in 2002 that Mexico was among the countries with the highest rate of dropout
rates, although in recent years the figure has drastically decreased.

Some of the characteristics that are manifested are the following:

- The level with the highest school dropout is the upper middle school. In fact, the
figures are distributed as follows: primary presents 0.5%, secondary has 4.2%,
upper middle has 12.1% and higher education has 6.8%.

- The main factors of school dropout in the country are early pregnancy, failure and
the allocation of an unwanted shift for studies. Another cause that follows closely
has to do with the lack of motivation and with the assumption that studies are not
very useful.

- Another relevant factor is the increase in the enrollment of non-compulsory

education, which affects the inability to pay for enrollment and the acquisition of
school materials.

- The lack of teacher preparation in indigenous languages also means the lack of
literacy for those communities.

- Rural areas are the ones with the highest dropout rate.
- It is believed that Mexico is one of the countries that invests the least amount of
the national budget in education.

- The states with greater school attendance are Sonora and the Federal District. The
states with the highest desertion are Michoacán and Chiapas.

- In view of the fact that the desertion occurs mostly in the upper secondary level, it
is considered necessary to establish more attractive and varied educational offers.

- There is no culture of equal opportunities between men and women. Therefore, it

is the latter that represent the highest dropout rate.

Prevention programs in Latin America to

prevent school dropouts
In Latin America and Mexico there is a variety of institutions that seek to slow the
progression of school dropout in the region, in order to ensure educational
plurality and work to train individuals who, in the future, are an important
economic force for their countries.

Some of the main programs that have been initiated are the following:

Conditional cash transfers

These are programs that began in Brazil and Mexico in the 1990s and have had a
great influence on the rest of the region.

With this initiative it is sought that the children of less affluent families can enroll
and attend classes regularly. The ultimate goal is to keep them within the education
system.

Acceleration of learnings
This program was first developed in Brazil, although it was expanded by Mexico,
Colombia, Argentina and El Salvador.

Acceleration of learning is designed for children and adolescents who have passed
the age corresponding to the course in which they have to be content. The idea is
to have access to these materials through an accelerated process. In this way they
will reach the level at which, by age, they should attend.
I do not abandon
It is an initiative that was born in Mexico and in which both federal and state
institutions participate. It also includes educational institutions, parents, teachers,
students and any member of society that wishes to participate.

The objective of the program is to reduce the desertion at the high school level. To
achieve this they use workshops, manuals, presentations and plans to help the
participants.

I'm in
It is a proposal born in Costa Rica that seeks to address the signs of school dropout
risk (absenteeism, deviant behavior and performance), through activities ranging
from macro to micro actions, according to the needs and requirements of students.

Inclusive schools
One of the factors of dropping out has to do with the lack of opportunities between
genders. Inclusive schools seeks to ensure that both students and students can be
part of an educational program that guarantees a quality education.

Other initiatives
There are also flexible education programs, which include models and
unconventional school processes that seek to increase access opportunities at all
educational levels.

Two initiatives stand out: the Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation, and the
Icaro Project (Project Incentives Conditional on Access and Timely Retention).

References
1. Causes of dropping out or dropping out of school. (2013). In Teachers Observe
and Opinion. Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In Teachers Observe and Opinion of
maestrasobservanyopinan.blogspot.pe.
2. Definition of school dropout. (2008). In Definition.de. Retrieved: February 21,
2018. In Definition.de of definition.de.
 3. School desertion (s.f) In Wikipedia. Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In Wikipedia of
es.wikipedia.org.
4. School desertion: evolution, causes and relationship with the completion rate
of basic education. (s.f) In the Ministry of Education of Peru. Retrieved:
February 21, 2018. In the Ministry of Education of Peru, escale.minedu.gob.pe.
5. Moreno, Teresa. (2017). School dropout, inflexible: SEP . In El Universal.
Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In El Universal of eluniversal.com.mx.
6. The school dropout (s.f) In the Ministry of National Education of Colombia.
Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In Ministry of National Education of Colombia of
mineducacion.gov.co.
7. Ruíz Ramírez, Rosalva, García Cué, José Luis, Pérez Olvera, María Antonia.
(2014). Causes and consequences of dropping out in high school: case Universidad
Autónoma de Sinaloa . In Radalyc. Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In Radalyc from
redalyc.org.

Psychoactive drug misuse

Adam R. Winstock, in Core Psychiatry (Third Edition), 2012

Social and educational

High rates of early school drop-out and lower levels of employment skills hamper efforts at reintegration
into the community as a non-drug user. All available potential supports should be considered, including
family, friends, social services or voluntary sector supports, user advocate groups, religious communities
and spiritual support groups such as Narcotics Anonymous. Providing credible accessible accurate health
information as part of harm prevention initiatives foster a positive alliance with using communities and
assist in promoting safer drug using practices with consequent benefit to the individual and society.
Therapeutic communities and ‘concept houses’ based on a religious or abstinent theme offer longer-
term care.

Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Drug Abuse, School Dropout and Suicidal Behaviors Among High-Risk
Youth*

Leona L. Eggert, ... Brooke P. Randell, in Innovations in Adolescent Substance Abuse Interventions, 2001
Effects of RY I and II on suicide risk

Study 5 included potential school dropouts who also screened in at suicide risk. We used a three-group,
repeated-measures design to compare the efficacy of: (1) the suicide risk assessment protocol plus RY-I;
(2) the assessment protocol plus RY-I & II; and (3) the suicide-risk assessment only. All three groups
showed significant decreases in suicidal behaviors, depression, anger, hopelessness, and stress as well as
increases in self-esteem and social support. Increased personal control was observed only in the RY-I
and RY-I & II groups (see Study 5, Table 2 for more specifics).

This study extended the efficacy of the RY program for reducing suicide-risk behaviors and depression,
besides reducing drug involvement and increasing school performance. Increases in person control, a
key posited mediator, suggest the desired effects of RY life-skills training. The results also support
arguments for the extended RY-II program. Providing RY-II to students who were more depressed and
hopeless at baseline resulted in enhanced outcomes for these youth. Net of RY-I, RY-II provided added
benefits for these youth in four areas: greater school achievement; less likelihood of dropping out of
school; and greater decreases in hard drug use and depression. These are important because they show
that success in a second semester of RY may reverse the progression to more severe problems and/or
prevent relapse. Surprisingly, the results also suggested the potential therapeutic value of targeted, brief
assessment and crisis intervention strategies like the MAPS (Eggert et al., 1995a).

Positive Youth Development

Reed W. Larson, Natalie Rusk, in Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 2011

I Introduction

“Perhaps no single phenomenon reflects the positive potential of human nature as much as intrinsic
motivation.”

Ryan & Deci (2000, p. 70)

Ron, a recent high-school dropout, is hunched over sound-mixing equipment in a state of intense
absorption, a state his teachers would not have recognized. He is flipping switches and adjusting dials,
working to enhance voice tracks from aspiring rappers by adding background music and beats. He
explains how Midwestern rappers use fast lyrics with tongue twisters, while those from South use “curl
rap.” His challenge is to get just the right background tracks for each artist. Since he started using this
equipment, Ron has wanted to learn everything he can about sound mixing, motivated by his “love of
music.” Although Sheri, a rural youth, is engaged in a much different activity—planning activities for
young children—she experiences the same kind of deep absorption. She has learned how children of
different ages and backgrounds like different activities. The challenge she and friends are working on is
to plan games fit to Saturday's group of 5 to 7-year-olds. Similar to Ron, Sheri explains her motivation:
“It's interesting, I love helping little kids.”

Both youth experience a psychological state in which they are highly motivated and their attention is
deeply engaged in the activity. Motivation drives their engagement; the engagement, in turn, creates
experiences that reinforce their motivation. To be clear, this absorbed state is not what people
experience watching a good movie. Ron and Sheri are not being passively entertained by a screenplay
created by someone else. They are actively directing their own participation in the activity. They are
motivated by the process of thinking through and addressing the challenges of getting the right sound
mix and designing activities that 5- to 7-year-olds will enjoy.

Psychologists call this state of motivated engagement intrinsic motivation (IM). By “intrinsic,” they mean
the activity is—or has become—motivating in and itself. It is self-motivating. IM can be experienced in
play, recreation, or work, any activity that is challenging (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Sansone &
Harackiewicz, 2000). Psychologists contrast it with “extrinsic motivation” in which a person is driven, not
by the activity, but by external rewards or threats.

Decades of research shows that IM is related to improved performance and learning within an activity.
Controlling for other factors, individuals who are intrinsically motivated are likely to think more
strategically, generate more creative solutions, persist through difficulties, and learn more from their
experiences (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Because their attention and motivation (their “hearts and minds”) are
more fully engaged, their mental work is thought to be more efficient and effective. Increasing evidence
suggests that IM is a basic human psychological system that mobilizes engagement in important but
challenging activities, including learning (Izard & Ackerman, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2008). Many scholars
and educators have taken the next step and argued that this system has enormous—but often untapped
—potential to energize young people's sustained engagement in learning and development (e.g.,
Bruner, 1966; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Dewey, 1913).

This chapter examines this potential. We present and evaluate the theory that IM can serve as a
powerful engine of learning and development. Although we are proponents of this theory, we are also
realists. Romantic images of eager teenagers rapturously engaged in a “natural” process of perpetual
learning need to be viewed with a critical eye. Motivation is complex and is responsive to a myriad of
factors. Sheri said she is most motivated when able to work unimpeded, thus she became de-energized
when the adult supervising their next event vetoed her plans and forced them in an unwanted direction.
In the real world, IM fluctuates as a function of a person's ongoing experiences in an activity, goals,
expectations, and other factors that we will examine. Motivation also differs by person and activity.
Although Ron's newfound passion for sound mixing later helped him earn his high-school degree, IM in
one activity does not necessarily transfer to another.

The promise, however, is that the capacity for IM can itself develop. Like other basic psychological
systems (such as those for attachment and for different emotions), we argue that the human IM system
is designed to allow enormous developmental plasticity. It is what evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr
(2001) called an “open system,” one that can be shaped by experience, culture, and deliberate
cultivation. We give particular attention here to adolescence—because it is a period when youth
become more able to engage in this deliberate cultivation—to be producers of their own development
(Larson, 2011; Lerner, 2002). Adolescents gain potentials to acquire meta-cognitive understanding and
executive skills for managing their psychological processes, including their motivation (Steinberg et al.,
2006; Zimmerman, 2002).

In this chapter, we synthesize research from different conceptual paradigms (theories of interest, self-
determination, flow, effectance  motivation, mastery orientation) into a composite theory of IM as a
single psychological system: a system that can mobilize positive development. (This composite, we
acknowledge, overlooks some important debates in the motivation literature.) We begin by examining
IM as a state: What are its subjective features and what is the evidence that this state facilitates learning
and positive development? In the subsequent section, we examine the diverse factors that contribute to
(as well as obstruct) a person's experience of this state. We also discuss how these factors can develop.
In the final section, we then discuss the implications for professionals working with young people. What
does the research suggest they can do to help youth experience and cultivate IM?

Many of the illustrations we use in the chapter, like those of Ron and Sheri, come from organized after-
school youth programs. We believe they are a particularly good context to observe motivational
development and positive development more generally (Larson, 2011). It should be noted that we focus
on IM within a Western cultural context. We should also be clear that we do not see IM as the sole
catalyst of positive development. Sometimes positive development stems from negative experiences,
even horrific events that lead to personal reappraisal. Other psychological systems (e.g., for altruism)
also contribute to development, separately or in tandem with IM.

ADAPTATION AND MALADAPTATION TO SCHOOL

Terrill Bravender, in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (Fourth Edition), 2009

Management

Truancy interventions are similar to those involved with school dropout because chronic truancy is a
path that often leads to dropout. Whereas individual behavioral management certainly plays a role
(particularly involving behavioral contracts developed by parents, school personnel, and other care
providers), the most important interventions are programmatic in nature. Truancy reduction programs
vary as much as the schools and districts that they serve. These programs may involve school attendance
review boards, alternative schools, distance learning initiatives, individual case managers, and even the
court system in conjunction with social services. Although many of these programs have shown short-
term success in reducing truancy rates, the long-term effects of these programs are unknown.
Unfortunately, despite such ongoing efforts at decreasing truancy and its eventual outcome of school
dropout, dropout rates in the United States have not changed in the past 2 decades.

Education and Health

P. Muennig, in International Encyclopedia of Education (Third Edition), 2010

High school graduates live 6–9 years longer than high school dropouts. Those with less education are
more likely to die prematurely of cardiovascular disease, cancer, infectious disease, diabetes, lung
disease, and injury than those with more education. There is good evidence that the education–health
relationship is causal, but the underlying mechanisms have not all been adequately tied together. The
health risk factors that are more prevalent among those with lower educational attainment drawing on
the public health, economics, endocrinology, sociology, neurosciences, and other literatures are
explored.

Evidence-Based Practice with Children and Adolescents Coping with Abuse and Neglect

Morley D. Glicken DSW, in Evidence-Based Practice with Emotionally Troubled Children and Adolescents,
2009

18.1 Introduction

Lambie (2005) reports that approximately 5 million cases of suspected child abuse were reported to
Child Protective Services nationally in 2000. By 2003, 2400 children were found to be victims of abuse
everyday. Nationally, each week, CPS agencies receive more than 50 000 reports of suspected child
abuse but estimates indicate that for every report of abuse, there are an additional five abused and
neglected children who go unreported (Prevent Child Abuse America, 2003). According to Lambie, over
18 000 children a year suffer permanent injuries as a result of child abuse.

Miller (1999, p. 32) indicates that common symptoms of children who have been abused include: High
levels of anxiety and hyper-vigilance causing the child's nervous system to constantly be on alert;
irritability, denial, and intrusive thoughts that sometimes create panic attacks; nightmares with themes
of violence that are similar to their abuse; impaired concentration and memory lapses; withdrawal and
isolation; acting-out behavior; repetitive play; self-blame; a foreshortened future where abused children
believe that they will only live a short length of time; regression, periods of amnesia, and somatizing the
trauma into physical illnesses including headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, breathing problems,
and stomach aches.

Similar problems have been noted in adult survivors of child abuse, but additional common symptoms
include substance abuse; difficulty in maintaining intimate relationships; prostitution; severe
psychosomatic disorders; abusive behavior; violent crime; depression; bi-polar disorder; psychosis;
anxiety and panic disorders; and a host of problems that suggest the terrible consequences of child
abuse.

In the classroom, abused children are 25% more likely to repeat a grade, and 75% of all high school
dropouts have a history of abuse or neglect (Sechrist, 2000). Long-term harm caused by child abuse may
include possible brain damage; developmental delays; learning disorders; problems forming
interpersonal relationships and social difficulties; aggressive behavior; depression; low academic
achievement; substance abuse; teen pregnancy; sexual revictimization; and criminal behavior (Lambie,
2005). Lambie goes to note,

The more immediate effects include feeling helpless, hopeless, and ashamed. Victims may feel unworthy
of having friends and fearful that their “family secret” will be revealed; therefore, they may isolate
themselves and withdraw. Such students may have increasingly pessimistic feelings about themselves,
leading to decreased self-worth, self-blame, guilt and shame, as well as negative feelings about their
own bodies (Russell, 1999). In some cases, these destructive feelings about “self” can manifest in self-
mutilation. Other abused students may develop perfectionist tendencies and focus on overachievement
as a form of escapism by concentrating on areas that may provide them with some sense of control
(e.g., school success) (Horton and Cruise, 2001). This type of perfectionism may be accompanied by
anxiety and inflexibility (p. 256).
Pollak (2002) found that abused children are highly sensitive to signs of anger in facial expressions. As a
result, they tend to see maladaptive intentions in others when none may exist, and they may act on
their misperceptions in a variety of incorrect ways including anger, withdrawal, fear, and flight.

In an analysis of national child abuse reports, Sedlak (1997) reports that the average abused child was
7.2 years old, ranging from a mean of “5.5 years of age for physical abuse to 9.2 years of age for sexual
abuse” (p. 153). Fifty-four percent of the victims were male children who had been physically abused.
Male children also accounted for 23% of sexual abuse cases (p. 153), suggesting a much higher rate for
male victims of sexual abuse than had previously been thought. In the National Family Violence Survey
conducted by Straus and Gelles (1990), it was estimated that 110 out of every 1000 children in the
general population experience severe violence by their parents and that 23 in 1000 experienced very
severe or life threatening violence. Severe violence was defined as kicking, biting, punching, hitting,
beating up, threatening with a weapon, or using a knife or gun (Sedlak, p. 178). Very severe violence
resulted in serious bodily damage to a child. Since lower income families are much more likely to have
abuse reported by an outside party than are more affluent families, it was estimated by Straus and
Gelles (1990) that inclusion of potential abuse by more affluent families could raise the actual amount of
abuse by 50%.

In her study of the factors that influence the multiple forms of child abuse and neglect, Sedlack (1997)
reports that family income is a strong factor. When compared to children whose families had incomes of
$30 000 a year or more, children from families with incomes below $15 000 per year were found to
have:

1.

Twenty-one times greater risk of physical abuse.

2.

More than 24 times the risk of sexual abuse.

3.

Between 20 and 162 times the risk of physical neglect (depending on the children's other
characteristics).
4.

More than 13 times greater risk of emotional maltreatment.

5.

Sixteen times greater risk of multiple maltreatment, and

6.

Between 78 and 97 times greater risk of educational neglect (in Geffner, 1997, p. 171).

When the home situation becomes extremely dysfunctional and abusive, children may run away. A
study by Finkelhor et al. (2000) indicated that about 133 000 children run away from home each year
and while away, stay in insecure and unfamiliar places. The same study reports that almost 60 000
children were “thrown out” of their homes. Almost 140 000 abused and neglected children were
reported missing to the police while 163 000 children were abducted by one parent in an attempt to
permanently conceal the whereabouts of the child from the other parent. These additional data suggest
that the impact of abuse and neglect often leads to children being abandoned or running away to other
unsafe environment where they can experience additional harm (NCJ-180753).

Children who are subjected to domestic violence, even when they are not the victims, have a higher
than normal potential of abusing others. Dodge et al. (1990) believe that physical abuse in early
childhood is a risk marker for the development of aggressive behavior patterns. The authors report a
threefold increase in the risk to be abusive in children who have witnessed abuse in their families and a
significant increase in the way in which these children incorrectly view the hostile intent of others.

As we know, however, many children who experience abuse are able to cope with it in admirable and
even heroic ways and have made life adjustments demonstrating behavior that is well within normal
limits. In a highly controversial article, Rind et al. (1997) suggest that the impact of child sexual abuse
may be much less than we think and write:

Our goal in the current study was to examine whether, in the population of persons with a history of
CSA, this experience causes pervasive, intense psychological harm for both genders. Most previous
literature reviews have favored this viewpoint. However, their conclusions have generally been based on
clinical and legal samples, which are not representative of the general population. To address this
viewpoint, we examined studies that used national probability samples, because these samples provide
the best available estimate of population characteristics. Our review does not support the prevailing
viewpoint. The self-reported effects data imply that only a small proportion of persons with CSA
experiences are permanently harmed and that a substantially greater proportion of females than males
perceive harm from these experiences. Results from psychological adjustment measures imply that,
although CSA is related to poorer adjustment in the general population, the magnitude of this relation is
small. Further, data on confounding variables imply that this small relation cannot safely be assumed to
reflect causal effects of the CSA (p. 253).

Among a number of researchers who tested the above conclusions, Duncan (2000) studied the finding
that college students who had been sexually abused as children did as well as non-abused students. She
found that abused college students were much more likely to suffer from symptoms of PTSD and to drop
out of college prematurely, often after one semester. In a highly critical article suggesting that the Rind
et al. research promoted pedophilia since it argued against the long-term harm of sexual abuse, Dallam
(2002) writes

A number of researchers have demonstrated that the Rind et al.'s (1998) data either fails to support
their case, was presented in a misleading or biased way, or equally supports alternative explanations. A
review of the authors’ previous writings reveals that Rind and Bauserman formed many of their opinions
about the relative harmlessness of sexual relationships between adults and children years prior to
performing any meaningful research into the issue. In addition, the authors’ views on sex between
adults and children have more in common with the ideology of advocates of “intergenerational” sexual
relationships, than the reasoned opinions of most other scientists who have studied this issue. After
reviewing the available evidence, Rind et al. is perhaps best described as an advocacy paper that
inappropriately uses science in an attempt to legitimize its findings (p. 128).

School Dropout Prevention

F.E. Obiakor, in International Encyclopedia of Education (Third Edition), 2010

Dropout Prevention to Increase School Completion

It is imperative that school completion be the goal of students, families, schools, communities, and
government. To reduce student dropout and increase school completion, all stakeholders must
collaborate, consult, and cooperate with each other. In other words, the whole village must work
together to enhance school completion. As a result, the CSM is prescribed to connect all stake-holding
entities in helping students to complete school (Obiakor, 2001; Obiakor et al., 2002b). The CSM has
mutually inclusive elements that are operational when:

The development and use of identification, assessment, and instructional strategies function within
multidimensional and cultural contexts.

The creation of a collaborative system of community support for families has its guiding principle in the
eradication of social stereotyping based on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, and socioeconomic
status.

The development of an awareness and appreciation for the many family forms values individual
differences and strengths.

The thwarting of conditions leading to violence in the home or the community cultivates a sense of
safety for children and families.

The advocacy for economic policies and human services attests to being pro-family by virtue of proven
outcomes.

The promotion of culturally competent practices in schools and in the larger society respects differences
in worldviews and learning styles among individuals.

•
The advocacy for expanded services provides for affordable quality childcare to meet the varied needs
of all families and children (e.g., infant and adolescent 24-h care and weekend care).

The development of collaborative community approaches to problem solving involves students, parents,
schools, community leaders, and government agencies.

The recognition that the problem in at-risk situations is not only in the individual but also in institutional
barriers in the environment.

The reconfiguration of curricula eliminates the hidden curriculum and other culturally insensitive
curricula variables.

The reinstitution of rites of passage and service opportunities cultivates a sense of belonging and
resiliency in youth.

The broadening of visions in educational reform includes economic reform and the investment in human
capital.

These aforementioned elements must be functional in nature and lead to goal-directed decisions of
stakeholders (i.e., students, families, schools, communities, and government agencies). Surely, these
stakeholders have to play specific and interrelated roles to maximize the potential for school completion
in this age of change.

The Student's Role in Preventing School Dropout

Based on the CSM, the student has roles to play in increasing his/her school completion. This is not the
traditional blame-the-victim idea; it is the individual's power and ability to be involved in his/her destiny
(Obiakor and Weaver, 1995). There are success stories of persons who have pulled themselves up by
their own boot straps, even though some had boots without straps and straps without boots. Since the
self is so important in reducing school dropout, students must be taught to be resilient and believe in
themselves (Obiakor and Beachum, 2005a). Specifically, they can be taught to:

develop self-talks and individual plans;

relax and not jump to conclusions;

learn to work collaboratively and consultatively with others;

engage in positive thinking;

talk with counselors about personal and school problems;

be a part of school conflict-resolution teams;

inform adults and parents when situations are not going right;
•

manage their time properly;

respect school regulations and society's laws; and

utilize mentors from the school and community.

The Family's Role in Preventing School Dropout

Family functioning and parent–child relationships have greater influence in career development than
family structure or parents' educational and occupational status (Kerka, 2000). Parents must be
proactive, involved, and supportive. Negative home circumstances can affect school performance; and
when parents are discouraged in the education of their children, they become unaware of how their
children perform. Kerka concluded that proactive families:

are well-organized, cohesive, and expressive;

are extroverted and manage conflict positively;

seek out ways to grow;

•
make decisions through the democratic process;

are sociable;

encourage individual development;

are emotionally engaged; and

are willing to work with their child, school authorities, and community and government agencies.

The School's Role in Preventing School Dropout

Schools have the power to uplift humanity when teachers and service providers are well prepared.
Poorly prepared, ill-prepared, or unprepared professionals negatively impact their students. Renchler
(1992) agreed that schools can increase students' motivation by implementing polices that promote:

goal-setting and self-regulation;

student choices;

•
student achievements;

teamwork and cooperative learning; and

self-assessment models rather than social comparisons.

Apparently, schools can reduce the failure syndrome (Brophy, 1998) if they are to increase school-
completion strategies for students. The failure syndrome can be reversed when schools value their
students, collaborate with families, work with community members, and consult with government
agencies (King, 2003; Obiakor et al., 2002a; 2002b). For instance, King concluded that teachers and
service providers must arrange and modify their classrooms and programs to:

facilitate on-task behaviors;

facilitate listening and attending skills;

facilitate academic performance;

make implementation of a behavior management system easy;

•
allow for large, small, and cooperative grouping and one-on-one instruction;

have a place for students to relax; and

provide students with private space. (p. 12)

In addition to the above points, schools must have prudent professionals who can use common sense
approaches to solve problems (Algozzine, 1995). These professionals must engage all students with
realistic expectations and avoid the myth of socioeconomic dissonance (i.e., when poverty is viewed as
the ultimate cause of all students' malaise). Poverty does not mean that students and their parents have
poor intelligence, poor self-concept, and poor zest for success (Obiakor, 1999, 2001, 2007, 2008;
Obiakor and Beachum, 2005a, 2005b; Utley and Obiakor, 2001). To avoid all forms of prejudicial,
xenophobic, and racist actions that force some students to hate school or drop out of school, general
and special educators and school leaders must:

know who they are;

learn the facts when they are in doubt;

change their thinking;

use resource persons;

•

build self-concepts;

teach with divergent techniques;

make the right choices; and

continue to learn.

The Community's Role in Preventing School Dropout

The community traditionally houses a wealth of resources that students can access for academic and
social development (Ford, 2002). Additionally, students can take advantage of the many learning
opportunities that are available within the community (e.g., libraries, museums, schools, jobs, and
entrepreneurial offers). Some communities are more forward-looking than others, and some are
extremely destructive to their children and youth. Dooley and Toscano-Nixon (2002) concluded that
some communities are:

Dysfunctional and struggling – in such communities, “the problem can be traced back to either the role
that community members are playing or the direction that community members are following” (p. 103).

Borderline – in such communities, “there is universal community participation and the citizens rely
heavily on the government to impose changes” (p. 104).
•

Conscientious – in such communities, “all members assume their social and moral responsibilities to
their community's social and economic growth” (p. 106).

To reduce dropout rates and increase school-completion rates, the goal is to have conscientious
communities that:

develop cutting-edge programs that build capacity for change for students at risk;

help to build responsible citizens through churches, mosques, synagogues, and community agencies
(e.g., YMCA, YWCA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Club, Urban League, to name a few);

discover softer ways to manage behavior problems and not build jails/prisons to replace schools; and

have as their slogan, “Together we can make a difference,” and as their principle, “It takes a whole
village to raise a child.”

The Government's Role in Preventing School Dropout

Government initiatives (e.g., No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act) have been instrumental in buttressing some levels of accountability in schools and
communities. In many cases, they have provided funding to various institutions, school districts, and
community organizations to create innovative school-completion programs such as charter, voucher,
and choice schools. However, to effectively increase school completion of students, the government
must support programs by:
•

establishing policies that buttress positive changes and advancements;

instituting laws that protect its citizens; for instance, due process of students, parents, and teachers
must be maintained;

imposing penalties on institutions that violate the civil rights of students;

funding research to discover new ways of doing things;

coordinating conferences that bring professionals and agencies together;

making programs accountable to their consumers/students;

assisting institutions in shifting their paradigms and powers; and

rewarding visionary leaders and programs that do what they are supposed to do.
Implementing Check & Connect: Lessons From Two International Effectiveness Experiments

Michel Janosz, ... Sandra L. Christenson, in Handbook of Student Engagement Interventions, 2019

Introduction

Although school dropouts are much fewer nowadays than there were 20 or 50 years ago, never in the
history of Western countries has this situation been so preoccupying. In a world relying more and more
on knowledge economy, shaped by an unprecedented rate of technological changes, education has
become, more than ever, the pillar of individual and collective wealth and well-being (Freudenberg &
Ruglis, 2008; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2012). In such a
context, identifying what are the best practices to promote school perseverance and how to generalize
them becomes a central task for school educators, administrators, and policy makers. The What Works
Clearinghouse (WWC) tries to support this mission by reviewing the existing research and identifying the
best interventions in education. By 2006, Check & Connect (C&C) was one of the few blueprint dropout
prevention programs identified by the WWC. This recognition increased rapidly the interest in C&C, not
only in the United States but also in other countries.

This chapter reports on the experience of implementing C&C in two Francophone cities, one in North
America (Montreal, Canada) and one in Europe (Rouen, France). Most evaluation studies of C&C have
been efficacy trials in the sense that these studies evaluated C&C under optimal conditions, with
researchers trying to control as much as possible the influence of potentially confounding factors
(Gottfredson et al., 2015). The two studies reported here are effectiveness trials in that they are
evaluations of C&C implemented in real-life conditions, with minimal control by the researchers over the
implementation. Observations from these studies are of great richness as they provide information on
conditions that maximize the quality and sustainability of C&C as implemented in different contexts with
a minimum of external support. They also provide the opportunity to examine the relation between the
effects produced by the intervention and its implementation.

Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Drug Abuse, School Dropout and Suicidal Behaviors Among High-Risk
Youth*

Leona L. Eggert, ... Brooke P. Randell, in Innovations in Adolescent Substance Abuse Interventions, 2001

Effects of RY I and II on suicide risk

Study 5 included potential school dropouts who also screened in at suicide risk. We used a three-group,
repeated-measures design to compare the efficacy of: (1) the suicide risk assessment protocol plus RY-I;
(2) the assessment protocol plus RY-I & II; and (3) the suicide-risk assessment only. All three groups
showed significant decreases in suicidal behaviors, depression, anger, hopelessness, and stress as well as
increases in self-esteem and social support. Increased personal control was observed only in the RY-I
and RY-I & II groups (see Study 5, Table 2 for more specifics).

This study extended the efficacy of the RY program for reducing suicide-risk behaviors and depression,
besides reducing drug involvement and increasing school performance. Increases in person control, a
key posited mediator, suggest the desired effects of RY life-skills training. The results also support
arguments for the extended RY-II program. Providing RY-II to students who were more depressed and
hopeless at baseline resulted in enhanced outcomes for these youth. Net of RY-I, RY-II provided added
benefits for these youth in four areas: greater school achievement; less likelihood of dropping out of
school; and greater decreases in hard drug use and depression. These are important because they show
that success in a second semester of RY may reverse the progression to more severe problems and/or
prevent relapse. Surprisingly, the results also suggested the potential therapeutic value of targeted, brief
assessment and crisis intervention strategies like the MAPS (Eggert et al., 1995a).

Institutional Factors

Lee Ellis, ... Anthony W. Hoskin, in Handbook of Crime Correlates (Second Edition), 2019

3.1.4 Time Sequence in Becoming a High School Dropout

While the preceding table shows that high school dropouts are evidently more delinquent and criminal
than high school graduates, there is an interesting qualification to this generalization. It involves a
phenomenon sometimes called the dropout dip. Specifically, studies have indicated that delinquency by
dropouts rises in the months leading up to their actually dropping out of school, a time that is usually
accompanied by irregular school attendance. However, immediately after dropping out, delinquency
tends to decrease, probably due to the fact that most dropouts begin working more or less full time
(Pronovost & LeBlanc 1980; Farrington et al. 1986). Overall, as shown in Table 3.1.4, most studies have
documented a “dropout dip” that follows leaving high school. But, over the long term, offending by
school dropouts appears to surpass that of those who remain in high school.

Table 3.1.4. Time Sequence in Becoming a High School Dropout and Offending Behavior.
Nature of Relationship Time Lapsing After Dropping Out

Short-Term Effects (Within the First Year or Two) Long-Term Effects (Beyond Two Years)

Offending increases MIDDLE EAST Israel: Shavit & Rattner 1988:1468 (among eventual
dropouts)

NORTH AMERICA United States: Hathaway et al. 1969; Bachman et al. 1978; Polk et al. 1981; Thornberry
et al. 1985:3∗

Not significant EUROPE Britain: Farrington et al. 1986:349

Offending decreases NORTH AMERICA Canada: LeBlanc et al. 1979; United States: Elliott 1966;
Mukherjee 1971:87; Elliott & Voss 1974; Thornberry et al. 1985∗

Positive Youth Development

Reed W. Larson, Natalie Rusk, in Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 2011

I Introduction

“Perhaps no single phenomenon reflects the positive potential of human nature as much as intrinsic
motivation.”

Ryan & Deci (2000, p. 70)

Ron, a recent high-school dropout, is hunched over sound-mixing equipment in a state of intense
absorption, a state his teachers would not have recognized. He is flipping switches and adjusting dials,
working to enhance voice tracks from aspiring rappers by adding background music and beats. He
explains how Midwestern rappers use fast lyrics with tongue twisters, while those from South use “curl
rap.” His challenge is to get just the right background tracks for each artist. Since he started using this
equipment, Ron has wanted to learn everything he can about sound mixing, motivated by his “love of
music.” Although Sheri, a rural youth, is engaged in a much different activity—planning activities for
young children—she experiences the same kind of deep absorption. She has learned how children of
different ages and backgrounds like different activities. The challenge she and friends are working on is
to plan games fit to Saturday's group of 5 to 7-year-olds. Similar to Ron, Sheri explains her motivation:
“It's interesting, I love helping little kids.”
Both youth experience a psychological state in which they are highly motivated and their attention is
deeply engaged in the activity. Motivation drives their engagement; the engagement, in turn, creates
experiences that reinforce their motivation. To be clear, this absorbed state is not what people
experience watching a good movie. Ron and Sheri are not being passively entertained by a screenplay
created by someone else. They are actively directing their own participation in the activity. They are
motivated by the process of thinking through and addressing the challenges of getting the right sound
mix and designing activities that 5- to 7-year-olds will enjoy.

Psychologists call this state of motivated engagement intrinsic motivation (IM). By “intrinsic,” they mean
the activity is—or has become—motivating in and itself. It is self-motivating. IM can be experienced in
play, recreation, or work, any activity that is challenging (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Sansone &
Harackiewicz, 2000). Psychologists contrast it with “extrinsic motivation” in which a person is driven, not
by the activity, but by external rewards or threats.

Decades of research shows that IM is related to improved performance and learning within an activity.
Controlling for other factors, individuals who are intrinsically motivated are likely to think more
strategically, generate more creative solutions, persist through difficulties, and learn more from their
experiences (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Because their attention and motivation (their “hearts and minds”) are
more fully engaged, their mental work is thought to be more efficient and effective. Increasing evidence
suggests that IM is a basic human psychological system that mobilizes engagement in important but
challenging activities, including learning (Izard & Ackerman, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2008). Many scholars
and educators have taken the next step and argued that this system has enormous—but often untapped
—potential to energize young people's sustained engagement in learning and development (e.g.,
Bruner, 1966; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Dewey, 1913).

This chapter examines this potential. We present and evaluate the theory that IM can serve as a
powerful engine of learning and development. Although we are proponents of this theory, we are also
realists. Romantic images of eager teenagers rapturously engaged in a “natural” process of perpetual
learning need to be viewed with a critical eye. Motivation is complex and is responsive to a myriad of
factors. Sheri said she is most motivated when able to work unimpeded, thus she became de-energized
when the adult supervising their next event vetoed her plans and forced them in an unwanted direction.
In the real world, IM fluctuates as a function of a person's ongoing experiences in an activity, goals,
expectations, and other factors that we will examine. Motivation also differs by person and activity.
Although Ron's newfound passion for sound mixing later helped him earn his high-school degree, IM in
one activity does not necessarily transfer to another.
The promise, however, is that the capacity for IM can itself develop. Like other basic psychological
systems (such as those for attachment and for different emotions), we argue that the human IM system
is designed to allow enormous developmental plasticity. It is what evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr
(2001) called an “open system,” one that can be shaped by experience, culture, and deliberate
cultivation. We give particular attention here to adolescence—because it is a period when youth
become more able to engage in this deliberate cultivation—to be producers of their own development
(Larson, 2011; Lerner, 2002). Adolescents gain potentials to acquire meta-cognitive understanding and
executive skills for managing their psychological processes, including their motivation (Steinberg et al.,
2006; Zimmerman, 2002).

In this chapter, we synthesize research from different conceptual paradigms (theories of interest, self-
determination, flow, effectance  motivation, mastery orientation) into a composite theory of IM as a
single psychological system: a system that can mobilize positive development. (This composite, we
acknowledge, overlooks some important debates in the motivation literature.) We begin by examining
IM as a state: What are its subjective features and what is the evidence that this state facilitates learning
and positive development? In the subsequent section, we examine the diverse factors that contribute to
(as well as obstruct) a person's experience of this state. We also discuss how these factors can develop.
In the final section, we then discuss the implications for professionals working with young people. What
does the research suggest they can do to help youth experience and cultivate IM?

Many of the illustrations we use in the chapter, like those of Ron and Sheri, come from organized after-
school youth programs. We believe they are a particularly good context to observe motivational
development and positive development more generally (Larson, 2011). It should be noted that we focus
on IM within a Western cultural context. We should also be clear that we do not see IM as the sole
catalyst of positive development. Sometimes positive development stems from negative experiences,
even horrific events that lead to personal reappraisal. Other psychological systems (e.g., for altruism)
also contribute to development, separately or in tandem with IM.

ADAPTATION AND MALADAPTATION TO SCHOOL

Terrill Bravender, in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (Fourth Edition), 2009

Management

Truancy interventions are similar to those involved with school dropout because chronic truancy is a
path that often leads to dropout. Whereas individual behavioral management certainly plays a role
(particularly involving behavioral contracts developed by parents, school personnel, and other care
providers), the most important interventions are programmatic in nature. Truancy reduction programs
vary as much as the schools and districts that they serve. These programs may involve school attendance
review boards, alternative schools, distance learning initiatives, individual case managers, and even the
court system in conjunction with social services. Although many of these programs have shown short-
term success in reducing truancy rates, the long-term effects of these programs are unknown.
Unfortunately, despite such ongoing efforts at decreasing truancy and its eventual outcome of school
dropout, dropout rates in the United States have not changed in the past 2 decades.

Education and Health

P. Muennig, in International Encyclopedia of Education (Third Edition), 2010

High school graduates live 6–9 years longer than high school dropouts. Those with less education are
more likely to die prematurely of cardiovascular disease, cancer, infectious disease, diabetes, lung
disease, and injury than those with more education. There is good evidence that the education–health
relationship is causal, but the underlying mechanisms have not all been adequately tied together. The
health risk factors that are more prevalent among those with lower educational attainment drawing on
the public health, economics, endocrinology, sociology, neurosciences, and other literatures are
explored.

Interventions for Student Engagement: Overview and State of the Field

Jennifer A. Fredricks, ... Sandra L. Christenson, in Handbook of Student Engagement Interventions, 2019

Theoretical Perspectives on Engagement

One of the most influential theories informing the research on high school dropout and completion and
therefore in the overall study of student engagement is the participation–identification model (Finn,
1989). According to this model, engagement consists of two main components: participation (i.e.,
behavioral engagement) and identification/valuing of school (i.e., emotional engagement). This is a
developmental model that begins with early forms of participation, which leads students to experience
success and, in turn, feel like they identify with and feel like they belong to school, which, in turn,
promotes ongoing participation. The requirements for successful participation change as students age,
with greater responsibilities and opportunities to participate in school (e.g., extracurricular participation
and school governance). For students who don’t have the requisite attitudes, skills, and behaviors
needed to be successful, this cycle of participation–success–identification begins to break down. These
students start showing signs of disengagement and alienation in early and middle elementary school,
continue with discipline and academic problems in middle and high school, and later culminate in
dropping out of school. Others may fall off the participation–success–valuing cycle if they experience
significant academic/disciplinary problems, difficulty with teachers, and/or develop relationships with
disengaged peers (Finn & Zimmer, 2012).

Another prominent theory guiding the engagement literature is the self-system motivational model
(Connell & Wellborn, 1991). This model is rooted in self-determination theory and links contextual
factors (i.e., classroom structure, autonomy support, and involvement) to patterns of engagement (i.e.,
engagement versus disaffection), through self-system processes, or an individual’s appraisals of how
related, autonomous, and competent he or she feels in a particular context (Skinner, Furrer, Marchand,
& Kindermann, 2008). This model assumes that individuals have (1) a basic need to feel connected to
others (i.e., relatedness), (2) a basic need to experience behavior as self-initiated rather than controlled
by external incentives (i.e., autonomous), and (3) a basic need to know how to effectively interact with
the environment and know what needs to be done to be successful (competent). A supportive
classroom, peer, or family context (i.e., high involvement, autonomy support, and optimal structure)
supports these three needs, which, in turn, increases behavioral, emotional/affective, and cognitive
engagement. Conversely, a less supportive classroom, peer, or family context undermines the need for
relatedness, autonomy, and competence, which, in turn, is associated with higher behavioral,
emotional, and cognitive disaffection.

Finally, the person–environment perspective (Eccles & Midgley, 1989; Eccles & Roeser, 2009) is another
relevant theoretical model to the study of engagement. This model assumes that engagement will be
influenced by the fit between a persons’ needs and goals and the opportunities available to meet the
needs and goals in their environment. Eccles et al. (1993) have used this theory to explain the decline in
motivation and engagement during the middle school years. They suggest that there is a mismatch
between adolescents’ developmental needs for greater autonomy, developing relationships with
nonfamilial adults, and opportunities to explore identity, and the environment of many middle schools.
Specifically, they show that middle school classrooms as compared to elementary school classrooms
have a greater emphasis on teacher control and discipline, less positive teacher–student relationships,
and practices that emphasize social comparison and competition (Eccles et al., 1993).

Promoting Student Engagement From Childhood to Adolescence as a Way to Improve Positive Youth
Development and School Completion

Isabelle Archambault, ... Ophelie Gilbert-Blanchard, in Handbook of Student Engagement Interventions,

2019
Multilevel Programs

Many programs that aim to promote student engagement per se or as a way to prevent school dropout
are multilevel, that is, they include universal, selective, and/or intensive-level interventions. Careers
Academies (Kemple & Snipes, 2000) is a good example of such programs, as this universal intervention
also comprises selective components. It targets high school students, and especially those who are at
high risk of dropping out. The principal goal of this program is to promote student engagement defined
in terms of school attendance, by providing the students with work-related learning opportunities, and
establishing pathways to facilitate the passage from high school to college or postsecondary
employment. This program has three core elements: (1) a school-within-school structure in which
students remain with the same group of teachers across a 3- or 4-year period; (2) a curriculum
combining academic and vocational training covering different themes such as finance, health,
communication, and technology; and (3) the development of partnerships between schools, local
employers, higher education institutions, and communities as a way to provide students with career
development opportunities, mentoring, financial support, etc. Results of a randomized controlled trial
(Kemple & Snipes, 2000) indicated that, although students who presented the highest risk of dropping
out were less likely to remain enrolled in a career academy through the end of grade 12, the high-risk
students who remained in the program presented lower dropout rates and behavioral disengagement
(truancy) as compared to their counterparts who did not participate. Yet, for students presenting a
medium risk or low risk of dropout, involvement in a career academy was not associated with school
perseverance or engagement (i.e., attendance).

The Links to Learning (L2L) is also a multilevel program implemented among fourth graders to favor their
behaviors at home and in school, including their academic engagement. It includes two universal
components implemented at the classroom-level, as well as intensive-level components for students
presenting behavioral disorders. This program incorporates interventions delivered in the family as well
as in classrooms by a team including a community mental health practitioner, a parent advocate, and
teachers. The Good Behavior Game (a contingency-based behavior management program; Flower,
McKenna, Bunuan, Muething, & Vega, 2014) and Peer-Assisted Learning (a tutoring reading intervention
in which tutees who are less skilled readers are paired with tutors with stronger reading skills; Fuchs,
Fuchs, & Burish, 2000) are both implemented universally by teachers. In addition, targeted students,
their parents and teachers participate in more intensive interventions, in which parents and teachers fill
out a daily report card to monitor behaviors and record reinforcement given to the child (Kelley &
McCain, 1995). Moreover, teachers regularly send good news notes certificates to parents underscoring
positive aspects of their children’s behavior (Lahey et al., 1977). Finally, targeted families also participate
in an 8-week family intervention (individually or in group) focusing on home–school communication,
home routines, as well as homework and reading support. Individualized case management services are
also offered to families upon request. The fidelity assessment (Atkins et al., 2015) of the classroom-
based components of L2L showed that teachers implemented the universal strategies with higher
fidelity (76%–80% fidelity rates) than they did the targeted ones (53%–56% fidelity rates). At the family
level, although no information is available on parents’ attendance for the family component of the
intervention, most parents reported having spoken with the mental health provider or parent advocate
at least a few times or many times (82% and 47% of parents). Moreover, parents reported that they had
received home visits at least a few times (40%) or many times (18%). Results of the 3-year multimethod,
multiinformant efficacy trial based on an experimental design indicate that the program had positive
impacts on children’s behavioral engagement, social skills, academic competence, on-task behaviors,
and family use of mental health services.

The Achievement for Latinos Through Academic Success (ALAS; Larson & Rumberger, 1995) is another
multilevel, selective, and intensive intervention. The initial intervention targeted two different groups of
Latino high school students, one group of students who were formally identified by the school district as
presenting learning disabilities or severe affective disturbances, and another group, the high-risk group,
who were not identified by the district but who presented characteristics that differentiated them from
regular students in their program and placed them at high risk. The goal of this 3-year intervention was
to prevent school dropout by promoting student behavioral (i.e., participation and attendance), affective
(i.e., bonding), and cognitive engagement (i.e., self-regulation through problem-solving), as well as their
perseverance in school. The program uses a multifaceted approach and includes different strategies
focusing on adolescents, their school, family, and community. The adolescent-focused component
includes problem-solving, counseling, attendance monitoring, and enhancement of school affiliation.
The school-focused components involve frequent teachers feedback to students and their parents via
ALAS counselors, as well as attendance monitoring. The family-focused component connects families to
community services and trains parents to help them develop skills to better participate in school, guide,
and monitor their adolescent. Finally, the community component involves enhancing exchanges and
collaboration among the community resources working with adolescents and parents as well as
developing new strategies to facilitate the use of these services by the families. Based on an
experimental design, the efficacy assessment of this 3-year program suggest that it yields positive
impacts on many academic outcomes, such as credits earned, school perseverance, and behavioral
engagement (lower absenteeism). Moreover, participants with learning disabilities, severe affective
disturbances, or those at risk for other reasons presented lower dropout rates compared to similar
peers from the control groups, and this gap was greater for students who were exposed to the program
over a longer period of time.

Finally, the Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) (Horner, Sugai, Todd, & Lewis-Palmer,
2005) is a three-tier multilevel (universal, selective, and intensive) intervention that can be implemented
from kindergarten to grade 12. This 3-year school-wide program has four aims: to decrease the rates of
punitive responses to student behavior problems, to increase students’ behavioral engagement (i.e.,
decrease misconduct), to improve their academic achievement, and to strengthen school–family
partnerships. At the universal level the program includes six main components: (1) fixing consensus-
driven expectations for student behaviors, (2) teaching interpersonal skills to the students, (3) providing
them with systematic reinforcement, (4) monitoring the intervention efficacy, (5) formulating discipline
practices, and (6) reducing or eliminating the reactive punitive strategies school staff are using with
students and replacing them with previously identified proactive ones. At the selective level the same
components are important, but some students presenting more behavioral difficulties receive increased
instruction and increased adult supervision in small groups. They also have more opportunities to
practice with self-regulation and social skills, and for positive reinforcement and academic support
[Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS), 2018]. Finally, students who exhibit important
problem behaviors are exposed to the intensive level. Based on the same aforementioned guidelines,
these students receive highly individualized support and interventions, such as function-based
behavioral intervention, which is based on information obtained by observing antecedent and outcomes
of student behaviors. Results of the experimental efficacy assessment indicate that the program has a
significant impact on school safety and student reading performance. It also has a positive contribution
on student behavioral engagement (i.e., lower rate of office disciplinary referrals); yet, this last finding
remains limited, since no pretraining data were available for this outcome.

School Dropout: Causes, Consequences and Characteristics

The school dropout it is the phenomenon in which the student stops attending the classrooms and stays
out of the educational system without receiving a school diploma. This phenomenon is usually seen in
Latin America, given that it is a region with high dropout rates.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), school dropouts have some main causes:
malnourished children or children who need to go to work thanks to the poor environment, social
exclusion or schools with reduced capacity.

School dropout

School desertion manifests itself especially in underdeveloped and developing countries, in which the
phenomenon is observed between the last years of primary and secondary school. In industrialized
nations the abandonment occurs in tertiary education or university studies.

It is estimated that close to 50 million young people in Latin America have not been able to complete
their studies.

Index
1 Types

1.1 According to the duration (temporary or definitive)

1.2 According to the scope

1.3 According to the moment in which it occurs

2 Causes

2.1 Intra school

2.2 Extra school children

2.3 Other causes

3 Consequences

4 Signs of school dropout

5 Dropout in Mexico

6 Prevention programs in Latin America to prevent school dropouts

6.1 Conditional cash transfers

6.2 Acceleration of learnings

6.3 I do not abandon

6.4 I'm in

6.5 Inclusive schools

6.6 Other initiatives

7 References

Types

The dropout can be classified as follows:

According to the duration (temporary or definitive)

There are students who return to the classroom after a period, while others leave the system
permanently.
According to the scope

In some cases the desertion is not given as a whole due to the transfer of a student to another
educational institution. However, this phenomenon must be studied by these institutions.

According to the moment in which it occurs

This depends on the trajectory that the student has made and the educational level that has reached:
preschool, primary, secondary, middle or university.

Causes

The desertion finds different causes that explain the phenomenon. The two main causes are intra-school
and extra-curricular.

Intra school

They have to do with the causes or internal factors of the student. Among them, the following stand out:

- Behavior problems .

- Learning problems.

- Emotional disorders .

- Lack of motivation and / or interest.

- Active social life after school activities.

- Little identification with the school.

- Low performance.

- Repetition. This particular factor has been increasing with the passage of time. The increase in the
figure intensifies, especially in the high school years. It may have to do with the lack of adaptation of the
passage from primary to secondary school.

Extra school children

In this category external causes converge, ranging from the socioeconomic to the familiar.

- Labor insertion. Due to the economic problems of the family nucleus, the student sees the need to
work and, therefore, drop out of school.

- Pregnancy.

- Parents have low expectations regarding academic training.

- Parents who have not received an education

- Lack of fixed residence.

- Insufficient income in the home.

- Schools located at great distances. In view of this, children must travel several kilometers until they
reach their destination. This affects regular attendance at classes.

- The desertion of other relatives.

- Little conversation about the school.

Other causes

- Teachers. In a first aspect, the poor working conditions in which teachers find themselves have an
impact on desertion. It also affects the poor training and preparation of them.

- Low allocation to the school budget, which affects the sufficiency of school materials as well as the
conditions of schools and public institutions.

- Ganging

- Bullying or bullying

- Gender stereotypes.

- Problems in terms of age, cultural or socioeconomic and ethnic level.

Consequences

- The school dropout will have a great impact on human capital, as it negatively affects social, economic
and political processes in terms of the projection of development of a country.

- Generate high social and private costs because they result in the recruitment of a less qualified
workforce.

- For the State, it is also expensive because it is obliged to carry out and finance social programs.
- Those who are outside the education system are part of unemployed and socially excluded groups. In
addition to this, these people can be part of criminal and violent groups.

- Increase in social inequalities, which generate a lack of integration among individuals.

- Lack of education prevents men and women from being able to escape from poverty because they do
not have the mental or physical capacities to aspire to a stable and well-paid job.

- Decrease in the development of economies.

Signs of school dropout

Although the causes and consequences are clear, it is believed that it is possible to handle school
desertion at the moment in which it is possible to detect the signs that indicate that this phenomenon
could be triggered.

This is mainly due to the fact that school dropout is considered as a cumulative process of three key
signs:

- Absenteeism.

- Deviant behavior.

- Performance.

With attention to these elements it will be easier for teachers, parents and representatives to make an
intervention on time.

Dropout in Mexico
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) indicated in 2002 that Mexico
was among the countries with the highest rate of dropout rates, although in recent years the figure has
drastically decreased.

Some of the characteristics that are manifested are the following:

- The level with the highest school dropout is the upper middle school. In fact, the figures are distributed
as follows: primary presents 0.5%, secondary has 4.2%, upper middle has 12.1% and higher education
has 6.8%.

- The main factors of school dropout in the country are early pregnancy, failure and the allocation of an
unwanted shift for studies. Another cause that follows closely has to do with the lack of motivation and
with the assumption that studies are not very useful.

- Another relevant factor is the increase in the enrollment of non-compulsory education, which affects
the inability to pay for enrollment and the acquisition of school materials.

- The lack of teacher preparation in indigenous languages also means the lack of literacy for those
communities.

- Rural areas are the ones with the highest dropout rate.

- It is believed that Mexico is one of the countries that invests the least amount of the national budget in
education.

- The states with greater school attendance are Sonora and the Federal District. The states with the
highest desertion are Michoacán and Chiapas.

- In view of the fact that the desertion occurs mostly in the upper secondary level, it is considered
necessary to establish more attractive and varied educational offers.
- There is no culture of equal opportunities between men and women. Therefore, it is the latter that
represent the highest dropout rate.

Prevention programs in Latin America to prevent school dropouts

In Latin America and Mexico there is a variety of institutions that seek to slow the progression of school
dropout in the region, in order to ensure educational plurality and work to train individuals who, in the
future, are an important economic force for their countries.

Some of the main programs that have been initiated are the following:

Conditional cash transfers

These are programs that began in Brazil and Mexico in the 1990s and have had a great influence on the
rest of the region.

With this initiative it is sought that the children of less affluent families can enroll and attend classes
regularly. The ultimate goal is to keep them within the education system.

Acceleration of learnings

This program was first developed in Brazil, although it was expanded by Mexico, Colombia, Argentina
and El Salvador.

Acceleration of learning is designed for children and adolescents who have passed the age
corresponding to the course in which they have to be content. The idea is to have access to these
materials through an accelerated process. In this way they will reach the level at which, by age, they
should attend.

I do not abandon
It is an initiative that was born in Mexico and in which both federal and state institutions participate. It
also includes educational institutions, parents, teachers, students and any member of society that
wishes to participate.

The objective of the program is to reduce the desertion at the high school level. To achieve this they use
workshops, manuals, presentations and plans to help the participants.

I'm in

It is a proposal born in Costa Rica that seeks to address the signs of school dropout risk (absenteeism,
deviant behavior and performance), through activities ranging from macro to micro actions, according to
the needs and requirements of students.

Inclusive schools

One of the factors of dropping out has to do with the lack of opportunities between genders. Inclusive
schools seeks to ensure that both students and students can be part of an educational program that
guarantees a quality education.

Other initiatives

There are also flexible education programs, which include models and unconventional school processes
that seek to increase access opportunities at all educational levels.

Two initiatives stand out: the Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation, and the Icaro Project (Project
Incentives Conditional on Access and Timely Retention).

References

Causes of dropping out or dropping out of school. (2013). In Teachers Observe and Opinion. Retrieved:
February 21, 2018. In Teachers Observe and Opinion of maestrasobservanyopinan.blogspot.pe.

Definition of school dropout. (2008). In Definition.de. Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In Definition.de of
definition.de.

School desertion (s.f) In Wikipedia. Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In Wikipedia of es.wikipedia.org.
School desertion: evolution, causes and relationship with the completion rate of basic education. (s.f) In
the Ministry of Education of Peru. Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In the Ministry of Education of Peru,
escale.minedu.gob.pe.

Moreno, Teresa. (2017). School dropout, inflexible: SEP . In El Universal. Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In
El Universal of eluniversal.com.mx.

The school dropout (s.f) In the Ministry of National Education of Colombia. Retrieved: February 21, 2018.
In Ministry of National Education of Colombia of mineducacion.gov.co.

Ruíz Ramírez, Rosalva, García Cué, José Luis, Pérez Olvera, María Antonia. (2014). Causes and
consequences of dropping out in high school: case Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa . In Radalyc.
Retrieved: February 21, 2018. In Radalyc from redalyc.org.