High School Dropouts

Supporting evidence for propositional statement. According to Knopf (l984), there are a cluster of factors that operate to place some students at risk for leaving school prior to earning their high school diploma. These factors, Knopf states, are varied and include: articulation problems, antisocial/delinquency problems, drug abuse problems, hyperkinesis, low IQ, reading and other learning disabilities, school phobia and low socioeconomic status.

Some insight into the magnitude of the contribution exerted by each of these factors is provided by Santrock (l98l) who has noted that:

Students with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders sometimes quit school, but . . . approximately 22 of every 100 students who enter fifth grade this year will not graduate from high school for reasons other than a physical or mental handicap . . . [Approximately 85 percent of these future dropouts] . . are from lower-class families of various racial backgrounds. (p. 312)

In a study conducted by Mackey (l977), it was concluded that high school dropouts have certain psychobehavioral characteristics that place them more at risk of leaving school. First, Mackey stated that students who drop out of school experience feelings of personal inadequacy to a f

. . .
f such discrimination. Low socioeconomic status has also been found to correlate with lessened academic achievement, a factor believed to contribute to dropouts' sense of personal inadequacy. However, several studies have shown that the introduction of new and innovative instructional strategies such as cooperative learning have done much to remediate the lessened achievement situation. Specifically, it has been observed that cooperative learning strategies, now used in school districts across America (Slavin, l983), have not only significantly diminished and/or extinguished the achievement gap between low and high socioeconomic students but has also increased students' social skills and general prosocial behavior (Gerard, l983; Slavin, Leavey & Madden, l984; Slavin & Oickle, l98l). When one considers the fact that delinquency and general antisocial behavior are believed to be part of what leads to school drop out, it can be seen that cooperative learning programs actually reduce risk on two levels. In addition to the foregoing, a great deal of research has been conducted with respect to increasing understanding of the factors that contribute to the deep personal sense of inadequacy that is characteristic of most school dropou
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Approximate Word count = 1486
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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