Background: Education plays a pivotal role in empowering individuals with the knowledge and skills needed for careers, economic progress, and societal engagement. Dropping out of school before achieving a qualification undermines these opportunities and has an impact on individuals and society (Audit Commission, 2010; OECD, 2023). International…

The purpose of Diploma On! is to re-engage students who have dropped out of school within member districts and ultimately increase the graduation rate in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Program staff obtain student contact information from identified referral sources within each district, normally after a 15-day drop. Next, they contact the student…

The purpose of Diploma On! is to re-engage students who have dropped out of school within member districts and ultimately increase the graduation rate in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Staff from the program obtains contact information for students from identified referral staff within each district, normally after a 15-day drop. Next, they contact…

In this study, we analyze the effects of Project GRIT (Generating Resiliency and Inspiring Transformation), a six-week intervention program that worked with a group of high school "pushouts," students who were encouraged to leave school, in a school district in southern California. We interviewed thirty-nine former high school students…

The study is framed by critical race theory to explore the intersection of cultural and institutional factors that influence Latino students' completion of high school. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which factors related to students' background, culture, socioeconomic status, and institutional-support such as…

The Colorado Department of Education recently received state funding to implement a Student Re-Engagement Grant Program (SRGP). The goal of this project is to inform the administration of the SRGP by looking back at data from a previously administered grant program, called Colorado Graduation Pathways (CGP). The CGP program was a federally funded…

This paper tackles what is arguably one of the most pressing and intractable educational issues confronting western democracies--the disengagement and disconnection from schooling of alarming numbers of young people. The paper looks at the policy response in Victoria, Australia, and through ethnographic interviews with a small number of young…

For the past 30 years, the dropout rate for students with emotional disturbance has hovered around 50%, a rate substantially higher than the dropout rate for students with other disabilities and the general population. This systematic review evaluated the literature published between 1990 and 2013 on the effectiveness of dropout prevention and…

Objective: Many patients drop out of treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); some clinicians believe that trauma-focused treatments increase dropout. Method: We conducted a meta-analysis of dropout among active treatments in clinical trials for PTSD (42 studies; 17 direct comparisons). Results: The average dropout rate was 18%, but it…

The National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) at Clemson University has been at the forefront of identifying model dropout prevention programs and promoting the use of best practices to increase the graduation rates in schools since 1986. The structure for these varied interventions and solutions takes the form of effective strategies, model…

This 5-year longitudinal randomized study focused on the effects of a dropout prevention program implemented at two urban high schools. The program incorporated the characteristics of personalization found in previous research to have some positive effects, and typical of the type of programs implemented in many high schools nationwide. The…

High school students with disabilities who drop out are costly to society. Compared to those who graduate, they are more likely to be unemployed, dependent on public services, and involved in the criminal justice system. Consequently, helping students with disabilities graduate has become a prominent national concern. Students with disabilities…

High school students with disabilities who drop out are costly to society. Compared to those who graduate, they are more likely to be unemployed, dependent on public services, and involved in the criminal justice system. Consequently, helping students with disabilities graduate has become a prominent national concern. Students with disabilities…

Many states and districts across the country struggle with designing and implementing coherent dropout prevention initiatives that promote academic advancement, especially for special needs students, who drop out at much higher rates than the general student population. This "snapshot" describes New Hampshire's innovative use of data…

The "National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program" is a residential education and training program designed for youth ages 16 to 18 who have dropped out of or been expelled from high school. During the 22-week residential period, participants are offered GED preparation classes and other program services intended to promote positive youth…