Finishing High School: Alternative Pathways and Dropout Recovery
Finishing High School: Alternative Pathways and Dropout Recovery
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DOI：
10.1353/foc.0.0019
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发表时间：
2009-03-01
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Lofstrom, Magnus
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Tyler, John H.;Lofstrom, Magnus
约翰泰勒和马格努斯洛夫斯特罗姆采取了密切关注的问题时，学生没有完成高中。作者开始讨论正在进行的，有时激烈的辩论是如何普遍的辍学问题。他们指出，报告的辍学率差异的一个重要原因是普通教育发展证书的持有者是否被算作高中毕业生。作者还考虑了适当的学生数据的可用性。全国整体辍学率似乎在22%到25%之间，但黑人和西班牙裔学生的辍学率更高，而且近几十年来没有太大变化。泰勒和洛夫斯特罗姆得出结论，就毕业生而言，现在的学校显然和40年前一样好。但是，全球经济带来的日益激烈的竞争压力使得教育在决定个人和国家福祉方面变得更加重要。作者说，学生辍学的决定受到许多复杂因素的影响，而且往往是长期脱离学校的结果。毫不奇怪，这一决定给学生和社会带来了巨大的代价。个人成本包括较低的收入、较高的失业可能性和较高的健康问题可能性。由于少数族裔和低收入家庭的学生比富裕的白色学生辍学的可能性要大得多，因此各个群体的个人成本下降不均衡。社会成本包括税收损失、公共援助支出增加和犯罪率上升。泰勒和洛夫斯特罗姆继续调查旨在减少学生辍学机会的项目的研究。他们说，尽管对这个问题的研究基础并不牢固，但对学生的密切指导和监督似乎是成功项目的关键组成部分。与成功相关的其他预防辍学方法是家庭外展和关注学生的校外问题以及课程改革。作者最后讨论了第二次机会计划，包括最大的这样的计划，GED证书。
John Tyler and Magnus Lofstrom take a close look at the problems posed when students do not complete high school. The authors begin by discussing the ongoing, sometimes heated, debate over how prevalent the dropout problem is. They note that one important reason for discrepancies in reported dropout rates is whether holders of the General Educational Development (GED) credential are counted as high school graduates. The authors also consider the availability of appropriate student data. The overall national dropout rate appears to be between 22 and 25 percent, but the rate is higher among black and Hispanic students, and it has not changed much in recent decades. Tyler and Lofstrom conclude that schools are apparently doing about as well now as they were forty years ago in terms of graduating students. But the increasingly competitive pressures associated with a global economy make education ever more important in determining personal and national well-being.A student's decision to drop out of school, say the authors, is affected by a number of complex factors and is often the culmination of a long process of disengagement from school. That decision, not surprisingly, carries great cost to both the student and society. Individual costs include lower earnings, higher likelihood of unemployment, and greater likelihood of health problems. Because minority and low-income students are significantly more likely than well-to-do white students to drop out of school, the individual costs fall unevenly across groups. Societal costs include loss of tax revenue, higher spending on public assistance, and higher crime rates.Tyler and Lofstrom go on to survey research on programs designed to reduce the chances of students' dropping out. Although the research base on this question is not strong, they say, close mentoring and monitoring of students appear to be critical components of successful programs. Other dropout-prevention approaches associated with success are family outreach and attention to students' out-of-school problems, as well as curricular reforms. The authors close with a discussion of second-chance programs, including the largest such program, the GED credential.