Schools face the dilemma of transforming both the trend of students dropping out of school and the associated negative socioeconomic outcomes into a positive path of persistence and school completion. Despite ongoing efforts of the federal and state government, as well as those of the local school districts, this problem continues to burden the…

In December 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave MDRC a grant to conduct reconnaissance on promising strategies to reengage disconnected young people and improve their long-term outcomes. The primary objective of the grant was to identify key leverage points for future investment by government and foundations. MDRC consulted with…

Project Re-Entry was a follow-up study of the status of more than 5,000 former students of the Tri-County Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who either never completed the entire General Educational Development (GED) test battery or completed the entire GED battery but still lacked enough points to earn a GED…

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for 1979 through 1991 are used to demonstrate that acquisition of the General Educational Development (GED) credential is associated with an increase in the rate of wage growth for male high school dropouts. (SLD)

Examined correlates of degree attainment (GED certificate or high school diploma) in high school dropouts of Mexican American or non-Latino white descent. Results for data from 519 dropouts indicate that 59.2% of dropouts return to obtain high school credentials, and that school capability, age at dropout, and socioeconomic status significantly…