Nearly 500,000 high school students drop out of school every year. That’s close to 1,500 dropouts a day, or one every 63 seconds. Recognizing the signs of a troubled student early can help to reduce this number, and there are several evidence-based solutions leaders can begin incorporating now ahead of the 2023-24 school year.
Frontline Education, a school administration software provider, recently released its latest research brief designed to help school districts identify at-risk students and increase graduation rates. The brief comes at a time when nearly 70% of jobs in the U.S. require a high school diploma or equivalent.
“Evidence suggests that a high school diploma is the ticket to future success,” the brief reads. “Greater educational attainment is associated with positive outcomes including increased job opportunities, higher likelihood of employment, and higher pay.”
Identifying at-risk students
In order to mitigate student dropouts, you must look out for several early indicators related to a student’s behavior. Commonly referred to as “The ABCs,” the researchers outline the primary risk factors leaders should be on the lookout for:
A: Attendance
- Consistent tardiness
- High levels of absenteeism
- Truancy
B: Behavior
- Behavioral challenges in and outside of school
- Student receives frequent discipline referrals
- Frequent suspensions or expulsion
C: Course performance
- Poor academics
- The student is over-age for grade level
- Lack of engagement
- High rates of retention
- Low credits
- Failure to complete homework
These warning signs can be present as early as kindergarten, according to the brief.
“While that might seem much too early to know how students will develop, catching students early also gives them the best chance at positive future outcomes,” it reads. But that’s the goal: identifying these student characteristics early enough to intervene and put them on track to succeed.
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Best practices for addressing student dropouts
In addition to identifying at-risk students early, leaders must implement strategies that not only identify these students but provide actionable solutions to keep them engaged in the classroom. That said, the researchers provide five evidence-based solutions to help schools increase graduation rates:
- Targeted interventions: Once students have been identified as “at-risk,” place them in targeted intervention programs, including tutoring, mentoring or counseling. These solutions should be proactive.
- Mentoring programs: They can serve as positive role models that help the student foster a sense of belonging to the school.
- Family engagement: When a family is engaged, students are more likely to be engaged as well. Schools should work to build positive relationships with families in their community,
- Supportive school climate: This includes creative positive relationships between students and staff to promote a culture of safety and respect.
- Career and technical education programs: CTE programs offer new opportunities for students to make education more relevant and engaging for them. Such programs can help students develop real-life job skills they’ll need for postsecondary success.
