Organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America, church groups, community recreation sports, high school sports, and other youth organizations provide educational, recreational, and social interaction opportunities for many adolescents in the United States. As sociologists we can ask, what kind of impact do they have on participants? The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of participation in one or more of these youth organizations on completing high school. Previous research is lacking in this specific area, though there is research that addresses other positive aspects, and some negative, of these organizations. The hypothesis of this study is that youth who participate in extracurricular activities or youth organizations have a greater likelihood of graduating from high school than those who do not participate in extracurricular activities. The data were taken from the National Longitudinal Survey. A logistical regression was conducted to see if there is an association between participation in these youth organizations and high school graduation. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to create and test two series of predictive models aimed at projecting high school graduation status. Secondary data were obtained in partnership with an urban school district. All of the predictor variables included in the models tested in this study were academic and nonacademic variables that were found to be significant predictors of high school graduation in previous empirical work. In the first series of models tested, individual academic and nonacademic variables were tested together along with school-level variables. Eighth and ninth grade variables were tested separately to avoid multicollinearity issues. The second series of models tested included similar individual-level academic and nonacademic variables, along with community-level predictors to analyze their ability to predict high school graduation status. Logistic regression and multilevel logistic regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. The model including community-level predictors yielded a pseudo R-squared value of .40, approximating that 40% of the variance was explained by the predictors in the model. Most of the individual predictors included in the models yielded findings similar to those found in previous literature on high school graduation status projection; however, this was not true for all of the predictor variables included. These differences highlight the tension that can exist between generalizability and local specificity. Significant findings from studies utilizing large nationally-representative longitudinal datasets and other large data sources do not always generalize to settings with samples that differ demographically. This study represents a first step in a line of research aimed at developing a better understanding of high school graduation status, particularly in challenging school contexts.

This study examined the relationship between credit recovery outcomes and select causal factors. In this study, credit recovery was defined as the extent to which students successfully complete the following courses: coordinate algebra, biology, physical science, and analytic geometry. Independent variables explored in this research were student motivation, student engagement, self-regulation, blended learning models, and formative assessments. A mixed method design was used to triangulate the quantitative data with the teachers’ perceptions data collected from the qualitative data. The qualitative data examined how teachers used formative assessments to improve student learning, the perception of the effectiveness of the program, and how credit recovery helped students to graduate from high school. The quantitative data found that there was no significant relationship between the independent variables in the study and credit recovery outcomes. Additionally, the data revealed that there was no significant relationship between teacher perceptions and credit recovery outcomes. Although there was no significant relationship between the dependent and independent variables in the study, the data did indicate there was a significant relationship between gender and credit recovery outcomes. The study found there was a highly significant relationship between formative assessments and student motivation, validating what research has already demonstrated about the effectiveness of formative assessments and its potential to engage and motivate students. The research also found that there was a highly significant relationship between blended learning and student motivation, suggesting implications for how blended learning can be used to engage and motivate students in credit recovery programs.

Earning a college degree has been shown to have a number of positive socioeconomic impacts on individuals and society as a whole. Although researchers acknowledge that the decision to attend college is a complex process involving multiple factors, studies have focused primarily on individual reasons as part of a linear college choice paradigm. Individual obstacles to college attendance that consistently emerge in this strand of research include academic preparation, socioeconomic status, cost, family background, parental influence, motivation, and guidance counselor support (Harris & Halpin, 2002). College attendance rates are particularly low among students living in rural areas. Nationwide, only 59 percent of students from rural America choose to attend college, compared to 62 percent of their urban counterparts and 67 percent of students from suburban areas. (National Student Clearinghouse, 2015). The purpose of this study was to examine the college decision-making process of high school students in rural Vermont to better understand why fewer than 61 percent choose to attend college, despite more than 90 percent aspiring to do so at some point during their K-12 academic career (VSAC, 2016). A qualitative ethnographic case study approach was used to provide a unique student-focused perspective on the complexities of the college-decision making process as they go through it during their senior year of high school. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 students at two rural high schools throughout their senior year as they wrestled with an influx of information from multiple sources creating a series of pushes and pulls from guidance counselors, family members and friends with varying motives. Individual case study analyses were conducted on the following three groups of students based on their level of commitment to attend college at the start of their senior year: College Confident, College Considering and College Conflicted. A cross-case analysis of those three groups was also conducted. The result is a detailed account of how students in each group internalized and acted upon new information about their post-secondary plans, which depended heavily on when they received it, who they received it from and its quality. In most cases, the experience proved to be a frustrating, convoluted process that waxed and waned with each new piece of information. Ultimately, students made final college-going decisions based heavily on a combination of information that was not always accurate, sometimes misleading, and on the advice of at least one parent they perceived as having their best interest in mind.

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics and relationships of participants and non-participants of the summer academic program in a local school district. The summer program also includes a component providing support to students as they progress through four years of high school. The study used 5,369 student records to conduct the study of the first cohort of students who entered their ninth grade in the 2009-2010 academic year.

This study empirically tested Benard’s (1991, 2004) theory of resilience and youth development by examining the influence of caring relationships, high expectations and opportunities for participation and contribution within the schools on the mathematics achievement and timely graduation of public high school students. Additional analyses focused on subsamples of students who were at risk of academic failure and school dropout—students from the lowest socioeconomic quartile, African American and Hispanic students, and a generic at-risk sample that includes students from these three groups plus students who had nontraditional families, had a disability, or were retained a grade in school. The study used data from the Educational Longitudinal Study: 2002, which was designed to monitor young people as they transition from tenth grade to postsecondary education and/or employment. Hierarchical Linear Models and Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models were used for the analyses. Experiences within the schools that conveyed caring relationships, high expectations, and opportunities for participation and contribution were associated with higher senior year mathematics achievement scores and increased odds of timely graduation for the overall public school sample and for the at-risk groups. Suggestions are made for increasing caring relationships, high expectations, and opportunities for participation and contribution within the schools. The limitations of this study and directions for further research are also discussed. / text

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The choice to drop out of high school often follows a progression of disengagement from school (Bridgeland, Dilulio, and Morison, 2006). Students often begin this process as a result of attendance challenges, disciplinary consequences, and persistent failure in traditional learning environments (Bridgeland et al., 2006; Fenning et al., 2012; Foley and Pang, 2006). School divisions face federal and state mandates to improve graduation rates and are under pressure to reform educational practices in an effort to lower the dropout rate (Picciano, Seaman, Shea, and Swan, 2012). School districts around the country have sought to diminish dropout rates through a variety of strategies. The collective goal in all of the initiatives is to redefine the high school experience for students who do not fit the traditional model, connecting them with alternative learning opportunities so as to best meet individual needs (Ferdig, 2010; Carver, Lewis, and Tice, 2010). Online credit recovery programs have the potential to re-connect students at risk of dropping out of high school through technological interactivity, personalization, and immediate feedback (Ferdig, 2010; Watson and Gemin, 2008). This study identified 97 Virginia school divisions offering online credit recovery programs to students identified as at-risk. This dissertation examined the relationship between the use of online credit recovery programs and on-time graduation rates in the Virginia and found an increase in the on-time graduation rates in the school divisions that implemented this strategy. The researcher also examined the various models used throughout the Commonwealth and found a variety of implementation strategies used by school divisions. However data indicated no significant difference in the Virginia on-time graduation rates when comparing the different program implementation measures. / Ed. D.