Purpose: In an era of unprecedented student measurement and emphasis on data-driven educational decision making, the full potential for using data to target resources to students has yet to be realized. This study explores the utility of machine-learning techniques with large-scale administrative data to identify student dropout risk. Research…

This applied dissertation was designed to describe and explain the dropout phenomenon occurring in a rural high school in southeastern North Carolina. Caucasian students were dropping out at a disproportionate rate compared to other ethnic groups in the school. Over the last 4 years, 68 students did not graduate with their prospective class at the…

In the 2012/13 school year American Indian students accounted for 1.1 percent of K-12 students nationwide and 1.4 percent of K-12 students in North Carolina (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.). Research has identified substantial achievement gaps between American Indian and other students on national tests, in graduation rates, and in…

The WCPSS dropout rate in 2009-10 for grades 9-12 was 3.53%, compared to 3.47% in 2008-09. The state's rate showed a decrease in 2009-10--from 4.27% to 3.75%. Other large school districts in North Carolina, including Durham (4.32%), Forsyth (4.07%), and Mecklenburg (4.15%), had higher dropout rates in 2009-10 than did WCPSS, while Guilford (2.81%)…

Background: The graduation numbers for Black males are dismal, chilling, and undeniably pathetic. The nation graduates only 47% of Black males who enter the 9th grade. The infusion of federal dollars and philanthropic support will not stop the trajectory of Black males who drop out of school. Black males face an upheaval educational battle;…

North Carolina has a dropout crisis--only two thirds of North Carolina high school students graduate. One reason this crisis has not received the attention it deserves is because the state was reporting badly inflated graduation rates (supposedly as high as 97 percent) until it finally adopted a more realistic reporting method earlier this year.…

A recent study of ninth- and tenth-grade dropouts in North Carolina shows that Hispanic adolescents have the highest early dropout rate among the state's largest ethnic groups. This relationship persists when boys and girls are analyzed separately: Hispanic boys are more likely to drop out early than other boys are, and Hispanic girls are more…

Tables present dropout data for North Carolina public schools for grades 7 through 12 for local education agencies and technical assistance areas in 1991-92. This was the first year of implementation of the federal dropout data guidelines, which require that a student be counted as a dropout each year that he or she drops out of school. The state,…