A Bridge to Success for High School Dropouts

Final Defense

Roberta L. Fugett, Doctoral CandidateFoundational and Graduate Studies in Education

Committee Chair: Dr. Sam J. Wright, Associate Professor, LeadershipCommittee Members: Dr. Debbie Abell, Dr. Richard Hughes, and

Mr. Kirk PeckApril 25, 2013

Morehead State University

Purpose

•To investigate why selected Job Corps graduates dropped out of school but were able to earn a general equivalency diploma (GED) or a high school diploma (HSD) while enrolled in the Job Corps program.

Problem• Too many students become dropouts annually.

– According to Azzam (2007), approximately one out of three of all students in the United States in high school fails to graduate.

– Almeida and Steinberg (2008) reported that states had for years over reported graduation rates. – They suggested the actual average is nearer to 70% than to the 90%

that had regularly been reported by most states. – More than 1 million students from the class of 2010 failed to

graduate (Rumberger, 2011).– Significant statistics

– One student drops out every 29 seconds– 7,000 per day– More than 1 million per year (DoSomething.org, n.d.).

• The high school dropout rate in the United States has been recognized since the Kennedy administration.– Summer Dropout Campaign 1963 (Rumberger, 2011)

• Personal Impact– Sixth child of seven– First to graduate from high school– Son became a high school dropout

• The problem is impacted by poverty.– Economic Opportunity Act of 1964

– The National Job Corps Program– President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty

Problem

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•Dropping out of high school has a negative impact on employability in the United States.

•Average unemployment rate for 2010 was 8.2%•Less than a high school diploma unemployment rate was 14.9%•The rate for individuals without a high school diploma was 6.7% higher (U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010).

•Wolk (2004) indicated dropping out of school costs

•hundreds of billions of dollars in unrealized national wealth

•Those who do not finish school can be expected to

•earn low wages•to end up in dead-end jobs•to be on welfare.

Percentage of unemployment in 2010. Adapted from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010). Employment projections: Education pays. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm

Methodology•Qualitative Study•Case Studies of selected Job Corps graduates• Seven graduates interviewed• Recorded with a video camera• Interviews transcribed• Transcriptions analyzed for

commonalities and differences• Each interviewee was given a

pseudonym for the purpose of maintaining anonymity.

• Each interviewee’s story was discussed in the capstone manuscript.

Research Questions1. How do selected former Job Corps students, who

dropped out of high school, explain why they dropped out of school?

2. Why were these former Job Corps students able to obtain a high school diploma or a general equivalency diploma while enrolled in Job Corps?

Interview QuestionsEach interviewee was asked to give responses to the following questions/statements:

1. Discuss why you quit school.

2. How did you find out about the Job Corps program?

3. Why did you enroll in the Job Corps program?

4. Describe your experience in the Job Corps and explain what if any impact it had on your life.

5. Discuss the most and least helpful things about the Job Corps program.

6. In thinking back about your Job Corps experience, is there anything that you would change?

7. Is there anything else that you would like to share about your Job Corps experience?

Core Assumptions• Job Corps students are individuals from poverty.

– Description of a typical Job Corps student– from a low income status– has never worked full-time, – reading level is below eighth grade– has not completed high school (U.S. Department of Labor, 2007).

• To qualify for low income, applicants must have – received public assistance such as food stamps (or been eligible to do so) in

the 6 months prior to applying for admission– been a foster child– been disabled– been homeless, or – must have met the poverty level income designated by the U.S. Department

of Health and Human Services guidelines.

• Individuals from poverty who enroll in the Job Corps program are able to achieve success because of the support system in place at Job Corps centers.

Conceptual Framework• Individuals who dropped out of high school were disengaged (Tyler &

Lofstrom, 2009).• Poverty has an impact on students’ decisions to drop out of school.

– Minority students and students from low-income families are less likely to complete high school than their peers (Stanley & Plucker, 2008).

– Students from poverty often feel isolated and unloved. These feelings lead to a downward spiral of– Poor academic performance– Behavioral problems– Drug abuse– Dropping out of school (Jensen, 2009).

• Students who failed to complete high school did not see the value of an education.

• Job Corps students who earned a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma while enrolled in the program found a higher level of support than in the traditional high school program.

Literature Review

• Tyler and Lofstrom (2009) found that students often reported some measure of school disengagement as the primary reason for leaving school.

• MacIver (2011) found the dropouts were absent an average of more than 20 days in 3 years before making the decision to drop out of school.

• Lee, Cornell, Gregory, and Fan (2011) found that a student's prior history of suspension increased by 78% the likelihood of that student dropping out of school.

Disengagement

Literature ReviewPoverty

•Students from low-income families were more than twice as likely to drop out of school as were children from middle-income families, and they were 10.5 times more likely to drop out of school than children from high-income families (Georgia Family Connection Partnership, 2001).

•Jensen (2009) pointed out that children from poverty, poor children, frequently feel alone and unloved. Those feelings of being forsaken often lead to a series of unhappy life events that include the decision to drop out of school.

•Jensen (2009) indicated that students who disrupt class by demonstrating impulsivity, common among students from poverty, are actually reacting to stressors in their lives as a survival mechanism.

• Hodgkinson (1995) found it to be undisputed in educational research that poverty is at the heart of most school failures.

• Payne (1996) defined poverty as the extent to which an individual lacks resources and explained that whether an individual lives in a rural or an urban area poverty has more to do with an absence of the resources than just being without money.

Poverty and the dropout issue are intertwined.

Literature ReviewAloneness• It was found that most of the participants "lacked a sense of belonging at school,

positive relationships with teachers, challenge, and respect for values held high at school (e.g., popularity, conformity, and sports)" (Hansen & Toso, 2007, p. 34).

• Most of the participants in the survey were also found to be highly sensitive and used words, such as "reclusive, intuitive, compassionate, and introspective" to describe themselves (p. 37).

• As well as being highly sensitive, most of the individuals in Hansen and Toso's (2007) study also experienced loss without receiving any type of assistance while they tried to cope with their loss.

• In a study of 158 high school dropouts in their teens and twenties, “did not fit in” was declared by 19 of the participants (Meeker, Edmonson, & Fisher, 2008).

Literature Review

•Did not like school and classes were not interesting (Tyler & Lofstrom, 2009; Renzulli & Park, 2000).

•Bridgeland’s study (2006) found the five top reasons given by dropouts for leaving school were classes were not interesting, missed too many days and could not catch up, spent time with people not interested in school, had too much freedom and not enough rules, and was failing in school.

Classes

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Had Too

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My L

ife

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Top five reasons given by dropouts for leaving school Adapted from Bridgeland, J., Dilulio, J., & Morison, K. (2006). The silent epidemic: Perspectives of high school dropouts.  Retrieved from http://www.civicenterprises.net/pdfs/thesilentepidemic3-06.pdf

Did Not Value an Education

Literature ReviewCost of Job Corps Training and the Benefits

• Job Corps costs about $26,000 per student

– 14.5 jobs are directly created and 9.5 local jobs are indirectly created for every million dollars spent by a Job Corps Center

– for each dollar spent on the Job Corps program $2 is returned to society (National Job Corps Association, n.d.).

• 75% of the individuals who enroll in the Job Corps program do not have a high school diploma (HSD) or general equivalency diploma (GED) (National Job Corps Association, n.d.).

• About 57% of those that enroll earn a GED or HSD (National Job Corps Association, n.d.).

Dropping Out Cost to Society, the Individual, and the Economy

• Rouse(2005) reported the cost to the nation for each high school dropout over an individual's lifetime was $260,000.

• $45 billion a year could be saved if the dropout rate decreased by 50% (The American Teacher,2007).

• Low levels of education– More likely to commit crimes– Be incarcerated– Costs to society may include:

– medical care for the victim

– loss of the victim’s income

– lower tax revenues (Amos, 2008).

Findings• An analysis of the data revealed:

– A common theme for dropping out of high school was that these individuals had been disengaged in school.

– Participants hated or disliked school and did not see the value of an education.

– Four of the seven former students reported skipping school.

– Two of the seven interviewees had been enrolled in alternative school while one of the seven had been homeschooled.

– Five of the seven former Job Corps students had experienced aloneness, lack of advocacy, or profound loss.

• Most of the seven former students in this study felt that the instructors and other Job Corps staff were there when they had needed them. – The staff pushed the students and the students felt they could not fail as long as they made a genuine

effort.

– Students were given responsibility while enrolled in the Job Corps program. Responsibility was found to be one of the most helpful aspects about the program.

• Several of the former students discovered the value of an education, as evidenced by their remarks about getting an educational foundation that they had needed in order to be successful.

Findings

Reasons Job Corps Graduates Gave For Dropping Out of School Before Enrolling in Job Corps

Pseudonym

Did Not Like School/Did Not Value

Education/Making Money Was More Important Than

School

Skipped School or Had Poor

Attendance

Attended an

Alternative School or

Was Home Schooled

Hung Out With the Wrong Crowd

Wanted To Do

Something Different

Will 1 1 1Jazz 1

Taylor 1 1Libby 1 1Juanita 1Joshua 1 1 1

Asa 1 1 1Total 5 4 3 2 1

Common Themes Identified From Interviews

Limitations• This study is limited in that the participants were all graduates

from one Job Corps Center located in Eastern Kentucky.

• It could have been more comprehensive if students at Job Corps Centers in other regions of the United States had been included.

• The study was conducted by interviewing seven former Job Corps students. Five of the students earned a high school diploma and two of the students earned a general equivalency diploma while they were enrolled as students.

• For future research, a more diverse group of students at centers in different regions of the United States could be surveyed and interviewed.

Implications for Future Research and Practice• School personnel and Job Corps staff should be better prepared to discuss the value

of completing their high school program or Job Corps program when students want to quit school or to resign from Job Corps.

• Everyone should understand how important it is to make connections with the students.

• Be able to empathize with their students. Often the only place students find someone who cares is in the education arena

• Understand when any student becomes a class clown, any student skips school, and any student hangs with a crowd of other students who do not value an education; these actions do not happen in isolation.

• I plan to follow the completion of this study by writing a book that can be distributed to schools and Job Corps Centers.

• The book could be used to inspire students to stay in school or to complete the Job Corps program.

ReferencesAlmeida, C., & Steinberg, A. (2008). Raising graduation rates in an era of high

standards. Education Week, 27(44), 25-26.American Teacher. (2007). Dropout prevention: Worth the money. American

Teacher, 91(7), 5.Amos, J. (2008). Dropouts, diplomas, and dollars: U.S. high schools and the nation’s

economy. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/Econ2008.pdf Azzam, A. (2007). Why students drop out. Educational Leadership, 64(7), 91-93.Bridgeland, J., Dilulio, J., & Morison, K. (2006). The silent epidemic: Perspectives of

high school dropouts.  Retrieved from http://www.civicenterprises.net/pdfs/thesilentepidemic3-06.pdf DoSomething.org. (n.d.). Background on high school dropouts. Retrieved from

http://www.dosomething.org/actnow/tipsandtools/background-high-school-dropouts

Georgia Family Connection Partnership. (2001). Underlying causes of highschool dropout. Retrieved from http://www.gafcp.org/index.php/communicate/tmp_publications/cat/best_practices_factsheet

Hansen, J., & Tosco, S. (2007). Personality, family, social, and school factors. Gifted Child Today, 30(4). 31-41.

ReferencesHodgkinson, H. (1995). What should we call people? Race, class, and the census for

2000. Phi Delta Kappan, 77(2), 173-76, 178-79.Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.Lee, T., Cornell, D., Gregory, A., & Fan, X. (2011). High suspension schools and

dropout rates for black and white students. Education and Treatment of Children, 34(2), 167-192.

MacIver, M. (2011). Gradual disengagement: A portrait of the 2008-09 dropouts in the Baltimore City Schools. Education Digest, 76(5),52-56.

Meeker, S., Edmonson, S., & Fisher, A. (2008). The voices of high school dropouts: Implications for research and practice. The International Journal

on School Dissatisfaction, 6(1), 40-52.National Job Corps Association. (n. d.). What makes Job Corps cost

effective? The Faces of Job Corps: Courage,Confidence,Careers. Retrieved from http://www.njcaweb.org/uploads/WhatMakesJCEffective.pdf

ReferencesPayne, R. (1996). A framework for understanding poverty. Highlands, TX:

Process, Inc. Rouse, C. (2005, September). Labor market consequences of an inadequate education. Paper

prepared for the Symposium on the Social Costs of Inadequate Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, October 2005. Retrieved from http://devweb.tc.columbia.edu/manager/symposium/Files/77_Rouse_paper.pdf

Rumberger, R. (2011). Dropping out: Why students drop out of high school and what can be done about it. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Stanley, K., & Plucker, J. (2008). Improving high school graduation rates, Education Policy Brief. 6(7). Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, Indiana University. Retrieved from http://ceep.indiana.edu/projects/PDF/PB_V6N7_Summer_2008_EPB.pdf

Tyler, J., & Lofstrom, M. (2009). Finishing high school: Alternative pathways and dropout recovery. The Future of Children, 19(1), 77-103.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010). Employment projections: Education pays. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm

U.S. Department of Labor. (2007, June). Job Corps annual report: Program year 2006.Retrieved from http://www.jobcorps.gov/libraries/pdf/py06report.sflb

Wolk, R. (2004, March/April). Double or nothing. Teacher Magazine, 15(5), 4.

Questions/Comments