Cheryl A. Almeida, Cassius Johnson, and Adria Steinberg released a report through Jobs For the Future titled Making Good on a Promise: What Policymakers Can Do to Support the Educational Persistence of Dropouts.
Their findings, which counter the prevailing views of the dropout population, include:
Dropping out is epidemic in central cities and rural, low-income communities—but it is not just a problem of the poor.
Socioeconomic status—not race—is the key indicator for dropping out.
Black and Hispanic youth are no more likely to drop out than their white peers in the same socioeconomic group, but the problem hurts black and Hispanic communities more than others.
Most dropouts are remarkably persistent in their desire to get more education.
It’s interesting to note that recent releases of reports challenge conclusions from previous studies of who drops out of school and why.
Assuming that the nature of dropping out of school remains constant, I wonder if these differences occur from different research methods or different assumptions about the nature of leaving school before receiving a diploma. In any case, it’s good to see variation in data. While these differences make policy decisions more difficult, variations seem reasonable in a context of many dynamic factors in schools.
I’m still looking for studies about dropouts that address the influence of advanced technologies such as Tablet PCs on dropout rates. Please let me know what I’ve missed.