High School Dropout Potential Could Be Determined In Middle School

Frontline:

Johns Hopkins researcher Dr. Robert Balfanz has uncovered a series of indicators that he says can predict how likely a student is to drop out of high school: attendance, behavior and course performance, which he describes as the "ABCs."

In high-poverty schools, if a sixth grade child attends less than 80 percent of the time, receives an unsatisfactory behavior grade in a core course, or fails math or English, there is a 75 percent chance that they will later drop out of high school -- absent effective intervention.

Middle schools are generally designed to give younger kids a more intensive level of support. If intervention doesn't occur until high school, Balfanz says it becomes much harder to "turn kids around and put them back on track."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 19, 2012 4:32 AM
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