Dropouts Start Early
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Comment| Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 | Robert Seith | CWK Producer |
“Time is of the essence for children that are falling behind, because every day they fall behind, their peers are moving ahead and so it’s like chasing a moving target.”
– Jill Isbell Rhodes of Reading Recovery, Long Beach Unified School District
Before this school year ends, 1 million kids will have dropped out of high school. Conventional wisdom has it that dropping out is an angry and impulsive decision for many kids. But a new study suggests that there is a way to predict who will drop out -- just visit your local kindergarten.
Last year, 7-year-old Derrick was beginning to hate books.
“When he did read, he’d get frustrated and he didn’t want to read,” says Derrick’s mother.
How did he feel?
“Sad,” says Derrick.
Even at this early age, it is a race against time.
“Time is of the essence for children that are falling behind, because every day they fall behind, their peers are moving ahead and so it’s like chasing a moving target,” says Jill Isbell Rhodes of Reading Recovery, Long Beach Unified School District.
Many kids never catch up. A study in the journal, Education Research, reports that you can predict with accuracy who will drop out in high school by looking at how well kids perform in kindergarten.
“If you start school with a negative experience, that’s an experience that’s going to last for the rest of their educational career,” says Danny Darby, education specialist.
The research suggests that dropping out is not an impulsive decision, but an outcome set in motion years earlier.
“The idea here is that as these problems go on and on, and as they are overlooked, children’s personality organization -- their character formation -- begins to be settled, begins to be more entrenched. And the longer you wait, the more that’s the way they become, the harder it is to make change, and the costs are much, much higher,” says Dr. Nathaniel Donson, M.D., child psychiatrist
Experts say early intervention is crucial.
“If you identify it and address it now -- at the preschool level -- it does not exist at the middle school or at the high school level. It won’t exist anymore. But you have to intervene early, and you have to address it as early as possible,” says Robert J. Aloia, superintendent, Bergen Country Technical Schools.
Derrick is now in a special reading program. He says he didn’t used to “feel” like a reader
“But now I do,” says Derrick.
Tips for Parents
- Five intervention strategies that have been used to prevent school dropouts among a high-risk population (National Center on Secondary Education and Transition):
- Persistence, Continuity and Consistency -- used concurrently to show students that there was someone who was not going to give up on them or allow them to be distracted from school; someone who knew the student and was available to them throughout the school year, the summer, and into the next school year; and providing a common message about the need to stay in school.
- Monitoring — the occurrence of risk behaviors (e.g., skipped classes, tardiness, absenteeism, behavioral referrals, suspensions, poor academic performance) was consistently tracked, as were the effects of interventions in response to risk behaviors.
- Relationships — a caring relationship between an adult connected to the school and the student was established.
- Affiliation — a sense of belonging to school was encouraged through participation in school-related activities.
- Problem-Solving Skills — skills students need for solving a variety of problems were taught and supported so students were able to survive in challenging school, home and community environments.
References
- National Center on Secondary Education and Transition
