The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential, quasi-military program for youth ages 16 to 18 who are experiencing difficulty in traditional high school. This report covers the program years 2018-2019 and is the fourth in a series of annual reports that RAND Corporation researchers have issued over the course of a research project…

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, dropping out is a persistent problem among 15- to 24-year-olds. Researchers have noted school districts that have been able to improve graduation rates have often done so through the "development of innovative models and pathways that help young people get back on track to…

The purpose of this ex post facto study was to compare the end of year GPAs of 8th grade underachieving students who participated in Career and Technical Education programming through the Memphis Ambassadors Apprentice Program to those who did not. Introducing Career and Technical Education programs and activities to students at a young age…

Chronic absenteeism is a critical issue that has been linked to many adverse student outcomes. The current study focuses on improving a key system already in place in many school districts--early warning systems (EWSs)--in order to decrease chronic absenteeism in students' earliest schooling years. Using a demographically diverse population of…

The disengagement that leads to school dropout may start as early as middle school, but may be interrupted by motivational interventions. One approach is to promote the relevance of content through explanations and demonstrations of the value of this content to students' futures. CareerStart is an intervention that provides teachers prepackaged…

The study investigated head teachers, and, education administrators' view of the Home Grown School Feeding Program and the associated sociodemographic variables. The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional design. Fifty-four government owned primary schools in Ebonyi State, Nigeria, participated in the study. Head teachers and education…

The objective of this study was to identify those activities that re-engage out-of-school youth who enrol in the so-called 'recovery' schools now operating in Chile. Recovery schools can offer different kinds of activities in order to engage their students; are some activities more effective than others? Is their effect moderated by the type of…

This paper evaluates the impact of extension of the school day in the context of Brazil's "Mais Educação" Extended School Day Program. Using school level longitudinal data, we find that the program reduces the dropout rates of students in all grade levels, raises the enrollment of students in grades 6-9, but reduces the enrollment of…

This Information Capsule reviews the research conducted on elementary level grade retention. Research findings on the effect of retention on elementary students' outcomes are inconsistent. One widely accepted conclusion is that when retention occurs, it should be accompanied by additional interventions designed to increase students' academic…

The Promise Fellow Program is an intervention designed to prevent dropout amongst students in grades 6-12 in Minnesota that show early warning signs of school disengagement. The program is led by interventionists known as Promise Fellows and provides three research-based supports that align with the National Dropout Prevention Center's "Basic…

This study examined the association between participation in a school-based group-mentoring program (Project Arrive) and academic outcomes in a group of ninth-grade students who had been identified as at high risk of high-school dropout (n = 239). Comparison participants were ninth-grade students with similar levels of risk (n = 980). Using…

Despite registering positive results, Uganda's Universal Primary Education plan (UPE) faces significant unresolved challenges instigated by widespread corruption in the school system, ghost teachers and ghost schools, lack of enough infrastructure, the lack of schooling materials such as pens, pencils, lunch, and books. Ascribed to the validity of…

Regular participation in afterschool programs by elementary students in low income communities may lead to improved college and career readiness. This study found that students who had high levels of participation in the LA's BEST afterschool program over three years were five percent less likely to dropout and six percent more likely to complete…

Purpose: Given the prevalence of mental health issues among young adolescents and its detrimental effects on academic functioning, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) interventions are becoming extremely valuable. The current study aims to investigate the effectiveness of two types of SEL interventions delivered by two different types of teachers to…

Early school leaving is a real social emergency across Europe. Literature and field experience show that the factors leading to the decision to drop out of school are different: family problems, economic distress, territorial discomfort. In addition, there are individual characteristics such as: psychological dimensions, ease/difficulty of…