High School Dropouts Issues - Essay Example

The amount of high school dropouts has declined dramatically over the past decades. Since 1967, the rates dropped from 17% to 7% in 2012 (“High School Dropout Rates”, 2013). While the news of more American students completing high school gives cause for celebration, the causal factors and disparities in student success leave much more to be desired. Factors such as race, socioeconomic level, drug use, criminal activity background and teen pregnancy play major roles in why some students choose not to complete high school (Suh and Suh, 2007). School characteristics such as location, policy and curriculum load also affect student success and should be considered when discussing high school dropout rates. All these predicting dynamics need to be focused on and studied to continue the downward trend of high school dropout rates and hopefully eradicate them. “To address the high school dropout problem, educational institutions must identify early on which students are likely to drop out” (Burrus and Roberts, p.1).

Among students in America, more than 33% do not graduate high school with their original classes. The troubling part is the higher 50% of minorities that are not completing their high school education. These statistics affect the demographic trends and create a concentration of dropouts in poor urban neighbourhoods. Unfortunately, 15% of the country’s high schools, mostly in urban areas, yield half of total dropouts (Dervarics, 2007). The issue of teens dropping out of high school is a widespread social and educational problem that has serious implications not only for an individual but also for society as a whole.

A great source of data on high school dropouts is the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) reports. For 50 years now, this federally funded research centre has aided in serving the institution of education with cutting-edge research, practice and professional development. It is known, respected and utilized worldwide. One of its most popular entries came from the High School Journal and was titled, “Academic Disidentification, Race, and High School Dropouts” by Dr. Bryan Griffin. It described how a student’s ability to identify with academics is a big predictor of whether they will complete high school (p. 71). Griffin went on to identify two models of student behavior that may cause early departure from high school; the frustration-self-esteem model and the participation-identification model. His article then explained how both models rely on a student’s ability to identify with academics, which is lacking among minority students. In America, Black and Hispanic students tend to possess greater levels of academic disidentification when compared to White and Asian students. “In summary, if either cultural inversion or stereotype threat plays a role in academic disidentification, then Black and Hispanic students, who often face both negative academic stereotypes and peer pressure to adopt anti-academic behaviours (Staff & Kreager, 2008), should place less emphasis on academic performance when deciding to leave school than either Asian or White students” (Griffin, p. 75).

Griffin conducted a study by using a cross-sectional, random sample of 132,903 high school students from 14 different Florida school districts in the 1990-1991 school year. The sample of students was 60.3% White, 15.9% Hispanic, 22.1% Black and 1.8% Asian enrolled in 75 schools. The variables used were stay-in/dropout status, academic performance and race. At the end of the study, Griffin’s findings were consistent with previous research. Black students had the highest percentage with 13% of the 29,340 sampled, and then Hispanic students followed either 11.6% of the 21,081 sampled.  White students came in with 8% of the 80,104 sampled, and Asian students had the lowest percentage with 5% of the 2,378 sampled. “The pattern of dropout rates found in these data provide support for the disidentification hypothesis; it appears that for racial groups for which a negative stereotype or oppositional subculture applies, the dropout rate was higher” (Griffin, p.79). While this article was interesting, the theory of race affecting a student’s ability to complete high school was based solely on academic misidentification. As it did allow for variables such as GPA and academic performance, the study should have included other contributing factors. Griffin did allow covariates such as students’ age relative to their classmates and behaviour issues, but they were barely discussed and needed more elaboration. This article failed to outline other characteristics that make race a predicting factor.

The socioeconomic status of students can have a significant impact on whether or not students drop out of high school. Pirog and Magee conclude that households with a greater financial background and more access to human resources are better able to invest in their children (Pirog & Magee, 1997). These parents can serve as role models for their children and help deter them from dropping out of high school (Bedard, 2001). The family background variables are strongly related to long-run possibilities of high school completion (Pirog & Magee, 1997). Pirog and Magee continue to conclude the sizes of the family-background effects are large, particularly when compared to the sizes of the effects of school characteristics (Pirog, 1997). Although Pirog and Magee argue that omitting school variables from the regression, significant changes occur, such as the benefits of being black decreasing significantly in the short and long terms, they do not give substantial evidence to prove this assumption. Pirog and Magee should have identified the “benefits” of being black so they can be measured and conducted a detailed time-series analysis of the relationship between race and the unidentified measures of the “benefits” of being black (Pirog & Magee, 1997).

Crofton, et al, analyzes the relationship between higher real minimum wages and high school dropouts in Maryland from 1993-2003, finding that higher educational attainment in the adult population is associated with lower dropout rates for white and Black students, but not for Hispanic and Asian students (Crofton, et al. 2009). Crofton, et al. explain that this reflects Hispanic and Asian students growing up in communities with larger shares of recent immigrants and while the dropout rates of Hispanic and Asian students are less responsive to local cultural influences, they seem temporarily more responsive to local long-term economic conditions (Crofton, et al. 2009). Crofton, et al. also found that dropout rates were higher in higher-income counties for Hispanic and Asian students, but not for white and Black students because higher-income counties had readily available jobs for teenage residents (Crofton, et al. 2009). Crofton, et al. note the differences in how local unemployment rates did not necessarily affect dropout rates for Hispanics and Asian students (Crofton, et al. 2009). Crofton, et al. did not report on other control variables, such as population, population density, and the percent of the population over 25 years. Analyzing these variables could show a significant relationship between high school dropout rates and urban/rural areas and the relationship between high school dropout rates and the percentage of the population that is over 25 with or without a high school diploma; this could have significant implications on the cost-benefits of the population with a high school diploma. Dr. Lam’s analysis of the theoretical framework of the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement of students, reinforces Crofton, et al’s conclusions that the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement is an important indicator of dropout when compared to academic performance, family structure, and socioeconomic factors (Lam, 2014; Sirin, 2005). Although Dr Lams’s theoretical framework strengthens Crofton, et al’s conclusions, the framework does not take into consideration location and population density, which can affect the relationships concluded in the framework and draw more conclusions.

In the study, High Cost of Maryland’s Dropout Rate,  it was concluded that students who failed to graduate from high school produced a direct cost on Maryland’s taxpayers through lower tax revenues and encouraged a greater social cost, such as higher Medicaid and incarcerations expenses (Hauke, 2008). The costs of failing to graduate from high school spill over to society and can have a significant impact (Tyler & Lofstrom 2009). It is estimated that high school dropouts cost Maryland taxpayers $42 million every year; about 27,000 Maryland students in the class of 2007 failed to graduate from high school; and on average Maryland’s 393,200 working-age dropouts earn nearly $10,000 less a year than Maryland's high school graduates, which reduces the overall state income by nearly $4 billion a year (Hauke, 2008). The study could have further concluded MD’s high cost of dropout rates by analyzing the cost of MD counties, cities, and municipalities and conducting a comparison to conclude where additional outreach and/or educational resources can be focused on, in touch with the high school dropout rate and reduce potential costs

One of the latest and most cited studies conducted on the issue of high school dropout rates in the U.S. concerns drug use among students. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) of the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which is a branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services is funding and overseeing this study. NSDUH combines data collected from 2002-2010. The respondents whose answers have been analyzed are 12th-grade students and 12th-grade dropouts; all of them are young people, ages 16 to 18. Figures of this report published on February 12, 2013 show that during 2002-2010 on average one in seven 12th-grade-aged young people (about 13%) dropped out of school, among whom males prevailed (about 14% vs. 11% of females). Hispanics (23%) and Native Americans (25%) comprise a quarter of all the dropouts; they are followed by Black Americans (12%), white Americans (11%), and Asian Americans (1%). The overall results of the NSDUH report show that 12th-grade-aged young people were more likely to be engaged in substance abuse, such as cigarettes, alcohol, binge alcohol, illicit drugs, marijuana etc. For instance, 27% of dropouts were marijuana users compared to 15% of current students (SAMHSA, 2013). Overall, the research shows that there is a correlation between drug use rates among students and the rates of school dropout.

One of the recent studies conducted by Gasper (2011) revisits the relationship between drug use among students and the rates of school dropout with the aim not only to define the percentage of drug users and non-users but also the developmental pattern of the processes of drug abuse and school dropout. The main specific feature of this research is the attendance to differences in experiences and backgrounds of students, which could lead to drug abuse and school dropout (Cho, 2011). The results of the research show that there is a significant difference between those who use drugs and do not use drugs based on their background, such as the data collected from them in 8th grade. More specifically, in the comparison of students who use drugs and those who do not use but have similar results obtained in 8th grade, the relationship between drug use and dropout from school fell by one-half (Gasper, 2011, p. 603). This suggests that taking into consideration the broader context is of great importance in studying the issue. At the same time, even taking the students’ background into account, the positive correlation between drug use among students and school dropout rates still takes place.           

The latest studies of the problem, however, deny the existence of a unilateral relationship between drug use and school dropout rates. One example is the study entitled “America's Dropout Crisis: The Unrecognized Connection to Adolescent Substance Use (DuPont, Caldeira, et al., 2013)”. The authors of the article claim that there exists a bilateral relationship between the studied issues. In other words, DuPont, Caldeira, DuPont, Vincent, Shea, and Arria suggest that drug use both causes and is caused by dropout from school (DuPont, Caldeira, et al., 2013, p. 35-37). Similar to the research conducted by Gasper, this study also claims that social, biological, environmental and other mechanisms (in other words, background) should also be taken into consideration while studying the issue.

SAMHSA (2013) presents bare figures on substance use among 12th-grade students and 12th-grade-aged young people about dropout status, gender, race and ethnicity. The research only suggests that there exists a relationship between all these factors but does not give certain conclusions. Gasper (2011) goes further and analyzes the importance of the broader context in studying the problem. Gasper also suggests it is necessary to apply the propensity score matching method, which appears to be effective. Finally, DuPont, Caldeira, et al. (2013) describe a bidirectional relationship between drug abuse and school dropout rates, which is of great importance for further research. Still, there is no clear data on the underlying processes that can cause both behaviours. While it is difficult to prevent young people from taking drugs, it is necessary to study the processes that lead from substance abuse to school dropout and vice versa. These two problems are destructive to individuals and finding solutions is crucial for society as a whole.

Like drug use, teen pregnancy is an issue that has long been examined about high school dropouts. Researchers have examined whether teen pregnancy causes dropping out, and vice versa. They have considered differences between races and ages of the teen mothers, and whether these factors impact the rate of dropout. They have examined whether more teens are becoming pregnant in recent years than in decades past, and whether or not those teen mothers are more likely now to drop out than previous generations (Kalogrides, 2009). Researchers have also considered how to develop interventions to keep teen mothers in school, not just to keep them from getting pregnant in the first place (Christenson and Thurlow, 2004). Interestingly, researchers have turned more toward postsecondary education as a hallmark of success among teen mothers, as standards in life and the workplace have begun to shift away from high school diplomas or GEDs, and more toward postsecondary education becoming almost required for success.           

Hofferth, Reid and Mott (2001), in their article “The Effects of Early Childbearing on Schooling over Time”, use longitudinal data to examine how teenage childbearing impacts a woman’s education. The authors found that teen mothers finish 1.9 to 2.2 fewer years of schooling than those who become mothers at 30 or older. Teen mothers are also at a disadvantage when it comes to their chances of finishing high school or gaining a college education. When it comes to completing high school, teen mothers have just a 10 to 12% chance of being mothers aged 30 or over. The teen mothers’ chance of postsecondary or college education is just 14 to 29% as high as that of older mothers. The authors did find slightly encouraging news: the effects of teen childbirth on high school dropout rates lessened in recent years because more female students overall were finishing high school. But the chances of a teen mother attending college have gotten worse: from 27% of an older woman’s chance in the 1960s to 44% in the early 1990s.           

The authors used logistic regression, least squares regression and fixed-effects models to examine the National Longitudinal Survey of the Labor Market Experience of Youth and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. It is not clear if these data sources have been used for this type of study (of teen mothers and education) before. The authors took a novel approach in that they wanted to examine not just whether teen pregnancy affects high school completion, but its effect on postsecondary education. The authors also examined whether changes in this effect had taken place over time. Interestingly, more women are graduating from high school, regardless of teen pregnancy, than in the 1960s.

The trend makes sense, considering women’s expanding role in the workforce, but it is interesting to see statistical evidence to support it. It is also positive news that more teen mothers are graduating from high school. But as postsecondary education becomes increasingly necessary for a successful working life, making it possible for teen mothers to attend college is a worthy goal. These findings are particularly interesting as they demonstrate the trend of high school completion becoming a more attainable goal in America, and postsecondary graduation replacing it as a new, more elusive goal.           

Mott and Marsiglio (1985) examined longitudinal data to examine whether the timing of a teen birth affects the mother’s chances of completing high school or postsecondary education. Their study is unique in that they also considered the timing of the birth and the mother’s race in their examination of her likelihood of completing high school. The authors also set themselves apart by illustrating the value of the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) for teen mothers. The article used the same data source as Hofferth, Reid and Mott (2001), the National Longitudinal Survey of Work Experience of Youth. The authors found that mothers who gave birth during high school or the period shortly after graduation are unlikely to have earned a postsecondary degree. They also found that while black women and white have about equal chances of completing high school despite a teen pregnancy, Hispanic women have far lower chances of high school graduation.           

The study’s GED-related findings are of particular interest. About 40% of women who gave birth before high school graduation earned their GED. The authors also found that teens who give birth between ages 15 and 16 are unlikely to graduate high school by their young 20s, but the women who do earn their high school degree are just as likely to do so using a GED program as they are a traditional high school education. The authors use this as an argument for strengthening GED programs. The limitation of this study is that it was conducted in 1985 when a college education was not as necessary for success in the workplace as it is now. In that environment, a GED was more acceptable to employers – and maybe even for admission to postsecondary programs. The authors admit the value of the GED to employers is questionable compared to a traditional high school program – even in 1985. Certainly, the workforce and higher education institutions have increased their standards to the point where the value of a GED is even less than it was in 1985.           

Basch (2011) takes an interesting angle on teen pregnancy by specifically reviewing the degree to which minority teens are at an increased risk for childbearing, in his article “Teen Pregnancy and the Achievement Gap among Urban Minority Youth”. Basch also examines the consequences of teen birth and how these consequences can be mitigated with interventions geared toward high school-aged children. He describes how teen pregnancy can impact health as well as high school completion, postsecondary education and economic success. He also adds that it is a self-perpetuating problem – teen mothers tend to give birth to children who, in turn, become mothers in their teenage years. Basch describes “a cycle of poverty” (Basch, 2011, p. 614) that keeps whole families from succeeding. In this way he highlights the critical importance of programs that help teen mothers to succeed, hopefully breaking this cycle.           

Maybe not surprisingly, Basch found that black teens ages 15 to 17 had a rate of teen pregnancy more than three times as high as that of white teens, and Hispanic girls had a rate more than four times as high as that of whites. Birth rates among women ages 15 to 19 dipped 34% between 1991 and 2005 but increased 3% from 2005 to 2006. While the disparity in birth rates among whites and blacks declined from 1991 to 2006, the disparity among Hispanics and whites rose. Basch also examined rates of intercourse with multiple partners, condom use, birth control pill use and other more detailed data on sexual activity. This is useful in developing interventions to prevent teen pregnancy but does distract some from his focus on teen pregnancy rates among the races.

Basch cites Mott and Marsiglio (1985) for his data on pregnancy and completion of high school. A major weakness of his article is that he seems to gloss over the portion on “causal pathways” that affect a teen mother’s education (Basch, 2011, p. 616). He does make a significant point, though: If teen pregnancy significantly affects a mother’s education, and in 2006 there were 435,000 teen births in America, reducing those births by even half would spare hundreds of thousands of women from potentially a lifetime of economic hardship. Basch then suggests various interventions to prevent teen pregnancy, most of them alternatives to abstinence-only education (which, as he notes, has not been proven effective).

He notes that women of colour can be limited in their accomplishments by the way that racist perspectives attach to their “aspirations” (Basch, 2011, p. 616). If it is assumed that a woman of colour is not bound for college or economic success, maybe she is less likely to aspire to those goals and more likely to give in to sexual pressures and become pregnant as a teen. Basch’s chief recommendation is to address this racism head-on in schools and sex education programs. This point is a very important one that I did not see stated so clearly elsewhere in the literature – of course, racism and lowered expectations for teens of colour affect their ability to meet goals such as high school graduation and college attendance. It is refreshing to see the impact of this insidious racism stated so clearly in the context of teen pregnancy.

Marcotte (2013) takes a novel approach that examines whether dropping out of high school leads to teen pregnancy, while the more common approach is to measure the impact of teen pregnancy on the likelihood of dropping out. Marcotte analyzes data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as data from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). He examines birth rates in conjunction with dropout rates in various areas of the country and at various times. He finds that as dropout rates fall, so do the rates of teen births. The findings are true in both black and white girls. Marcotte posits that teens who drop out have more idle time to get into trouble, which leads to them getting pregnant at higher rates. He also acknowledges that it is possible that teens who attend more school realize more deeply the consequences of teen pregnancy, and avoid taking the risk.

A major weakness of Marcotte’s article is that he spends a great deal of time explaining his method – comparing CDC data with NCES data – and his findings are limited to contingency tables listing the frequencies of dropout, income and employment and time series depicting birth and dropout rates rising and falling. To his credit, the author acknowledges openly that his findings are just a piece of the larger library of literature on teen pregnancy and dropout rates. I would agree with him that these findings are an important part of this body of literature, because of his interesting approach to considering whether dropping out causes teen pregnancy, rather than the opposite, more common assumption.

A review of the literature shows that the characteristics of the high school that a student attends play a major role in the teen’s decision on whether to drop out of high school, the literature shows. Bradley and Renzulli (2011) incorporate direct testimonials of students leaving school for personal reasons as well as being suggested by staff. The “Push” factors for dropouts are based on the administrative policies set by the school system that force students out and the “Pull” factors include family and socioeconomic status that takes the student away from school. (Bradley & Renzulli, 2011) Some students disconnect with the objectives of school based on the way that it is structured, therefore causing behaviour backlash that is not handled properly by the administration. Many school systems do not investigate in detail the cause behind the students’ behaviour they merely push them out and make them feel inferior, which causes the students to drop out. (Bradley & Renzulli, 2011) The study proved there was a solid connection between high school dropouts and socioeconomic class, however, it failed to detail the administrative factors that caused students to drop out. The data that the study used excluded Asian and Indian Americans, because of their low dropout rates and didn’t offer any reasons for this demographic's low rates.

Tas, Bora, Selvitopu, & Demirkaya (2011) believe that students drop out for three main reasons with the first being intensive curriculum, grade repetition, and mistrust of the neighbourhood. Students reported problems of negative behaviours from teachers and school administration led them to drop out of high school (Tas, Bora, Selvitopu, & Demirkaya, 2011). The administration sets the guidelines that the students and teachers must follow and determines which school the students must attend based on their set system. The article suggests that the teachers may not be aware of all the processes to handle various types of students, therefore they can cause a student to drop out. The authors offer several suggestions for school administration improvements, however, the data set they used consisted of 19 participants which can cause skewed results.

Schoeneberger (2012) writes that future dropouts can be stopped during the being of their high school career based on their middle school attendance records. Poor attendance records can be the result of family factors or students' general uninterested in the educational environment. Many school policies are focused on getting the students in the school to receive funding, however little is done to understand why students are not coming to school and administrative ways to fix the issue (Schoeneberger, 2012). The study suggested several ways to use attendance records as an indicator of dropout rates, however, it didn’t discuss a test of current absentee prevention programs

Christle, Jolivette, & Nelson (2007) define several variable school characteristics that are related to high school dropout rates and their relationship to the students. The study includes the use of qualitative and quantitative methods to get prospects from students, staff, teachers, and administration. The standout characteristics are school environment, disciplinary procedures, and classroom environment had a significant effect on student dropout rates (Christle, Jolivette, & Nelson, 2007). The study proved that the higher overall school failure the more dramatic impact it has on the dropout rates and it offered several examples for improvements. The study has limitations on quantitative data that represented all of their categorical data therefore they had to focus more on the qualitative data from surveying, However, There is no mention of the school's counseling and social work services for dropout prevention (Warren and Jenkins, 2005).

Lee, Cornell, Gregory, & Fan (2011) suspect that suspension policies hurt student completion of high school. The study compares black and white students in varying school populations and the number of suspensions about the dropouts to discover the reason behind the student’s behaviour. It found that there is a relationship between high suspension and dropout rates regardless of the socioeconomic class of the students in the school population (Lee, Cornell, Gregory, & Fan, 2011). The study surveyed several students to determine why and how they misbehave in school. Many of the white students’ suspensions and dropouts were related to bullying and many of the black students were related to gang affiliation. Many of the student's attitudes toward conforming to school rules and policies had a major effect on suspension and dropout rates as well. Once students miss school for suspension they may find it hard to get back to the level of their peers or think the school no longer wants them, therefore they decide to drop out (Lee, Cornell, Gregory, & Fan, 2011). The data used in this study was skewed based on which race was the majority in the school and didn’t ask the students if they were aware of the school counselling services. The study didn’t detail the school policies that led to the students being suspended and rather the policies were executed correctly.

To observe high school dropout rates and how they correlate with Individual Characteristics, we examined data from various sources on national high school dropout rates of students ages 16 to 24. The data used to analyze the relationship between dropouts and individual Race and Ethnicity was provided by the National Center for Education Services through the Institute of Education Services (ies). Data was also used from the US Department of Commerce. We focused on national data between 1992 and 2012 because current data collection procedures changed in 1992 and data before then may not have been comparable.  Before then, the data for White and Black students included students of Hispanic ethnicity, so the analysis would not have been valid.

After reviewing national data on high school dropout rates and examining how the data correlates with a student’s race or ethnicity we focused our attention on the state of Maryland and analyzed the relationship between high school dropout rates and income. Data was provided by The Maryland State Department of Education’s (MSDE) annual report, “Maryland Report Card”. The state-wide data used reflects ten years from 2003 to 2013. MSDE began collecting and reporting data on elementary and secondary schools in each Maryland county in 2003. Wealth expenditure data is not yet available in the 2014 MD Report Card annual report. The variables used to analyze the relationship between high school dropout rates and income in Maryland include: per pupil wealth and the number of students receiving free/reduced lunch. Per pupil wealth is defined by MSDE as taxable wealth about the September 30th enrollment of a school district; wealth is defined as the sum of a county’s net taxable income, the assessed value of the real property, and fifty per cent of the assessed value of the personal property. The number of students receiving free/reduced lunch is defined as the number of students whose applications for free/reduced price meals meet the family size and income guidelines, as published annually by the US Department of Agriculture, and students approved through direct certification; counts are reported from the students first day of enrollment until the last day of enrollment in the school year or the date the student withdrew from the school system.

The literature we read about school characteristics led us to focus on the impact of attendance rates and wealth expenditures per pupil on high school dropout rates in the state of Maryland. The data used to analyze the relationship between high school dropout rates and school characteristics came from the Maryland State Department of Education’s “Maryland Report Card”. Again, we analyzed data between 2003 and 2013 due to data collection procedures and sufficient information. The data measures many important school characteristics, as well as calculating and reporting the drop-out rates for schools and counties. Among the most significant measures included in the report card are the number of students who missed 5 or fewer days of school each year, those who missed 90 or more days of school each year, the number of days of attendance each year, and wealth expenditures per pupil. Those four characteristics, including the dropout rates are summarized here.