Dropping out of high school is an issue that has faced the educational system for years. At a high school in Mississippi, the dropout prevention plan implemented was not beneficial to all at-risk students because it mainly focused on academic issues. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand why students dropped out of high school and to gather strategies for a dropout prevention plan. The conceptual framework was based on 5 factors: general deviancy, deviant affiliation, family socialization, structural strain, and academic quandary. The research questions inquired about experiences that caused students to drop out and suggested strategies for a new dropout prevention plan. Data collection methods included interviews with 18 teachers, 3 counselors, and 20 former students who dropped out between 2007 and 2012. Interpretive data analysis was used to analyze data. Open and axial coding was used to develop themes about why students dropped out of high school. Those themes included behavioral issues, peer and work-related influences, family structure, school environment, and academic problems. Data analyses indicated that tutoring, staff development, mentoring, counseling, parental involvement, teenage mother programs, and alternative options were useful in preventing students from dropping out. These findings were used to develop a high school dropout prevention plan to benefit at-risk students. The overall goal for this project was to decrease high school dropout rates. By implementing the high school dropout prevention plan, schools may enable more students to further their education and become productive citizens within their communities.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-04-03T12:57:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Amanda Aparecida Camargo de Oliveira.pdf: 1643283 bytes, checksum: 0571e0107458b13b6bb02fa033317fd4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-03T12:57:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Amanda Aparecida Camargo de Oliveira.pdf: 1643283 bytes, checksum: 0571e0107458b13b6bb02fa033317fd4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-13 / In Brazil each and of four students that enter in the elementary school one theirs to throw up the school before of to complete the last series. The School flight is a complicate social phenomenon, multidimensional, expression of a collective problem with consequences not only academic, but also social and economic. Aim: This study has the purpose to identify the reasons of flight for students in a state nursing technical course, in the interior of São Paulo, to characterize the demographic and work profile of the not finished students, and to propose actions that may helper to reduce evasion. Method: This is a descriptive, documentary research with a qualitative-quantitative approach. The study included 18 students who evaded in the first semester of 2014. The sample included students from four groups who presented in the year in question the percentage of 18.66% of avoidance. An oral interview conducted, recorded in audio, guided by questions about the reasons for avoidance and ways of avoiding them. In addition, participants replied to a form with socio-demographic and work data. The subject of the interviews organized according to the reference of the Discourse of the Collective Subject for the analysis and interpretation of these data the subject analysis used modality thematic analysis. Sociodemographic dice analyzed according to the frequency of inconstant. Results: showed that the participants were mostly women, aged between 18 and 35 years, children of parents with low level of education, since most didn’t attend high school, and 50% of families live with income of one to three wages Minimum. The causes of evasion identified by the interviewees categorized into individual (maternity, change of address, illness in the family), environmental (need to work, financial difficulties, schedules incompatibility) and academic (dissatisfaction with the choice of course, with the work of Completion of course, unsatisfactory academic result). The environmental factors predominated, the incompatibility of schedules as the main cause of evasion. This agent is entail to the difficulty of to harmonize academic activities and the world of work and is due to the need to work to make up the family budget. Participants suggested welcoming actions (listening to students, active search), academic measures (diversifying schedules, improving CBT), and measures to support students in financial difficulties as ways to avoid circumvention. Listening to the student, in order to "be attentive" to their difficulties and confrontations, especially in the learning teaching process was proposed by two participants and considered by the school team to receive the return of the results as the most important action in the fight against evasion, by its preventive and humanized character. It is concluded that the student's access to and permanence in the course involves not only pedagogical questions but also measures that consider the context and the singularity of the student, as well as require co-responsibility of all the professionals involved / No Brasil de cada quatro alunos que ingressam no ensino fundamental um deles abandona a escola antes de completar a última série. A evasão escolar é um fenômeno social complexo, multidimensional, expressão de um problema coletivo com consequências não só acadêmicas, mas sociais e econômicas. Objetivos: identificar os motivos da evasão dos alunos de um curso técnico de Enfermagem estadual do interior de São Paulo, caracterizar o perfil sócio demográfico e de trabalho dos alunos não concluintes e propor ações que possam auxiliar na diminuição da evasão. Métodos: Trata-se de pesquisa descritiva, documental, com abordagem qualiquantitativa. Participaram do estudo 18 alunos que evadiram no primeiro semestre de 2014. A amostra abrangeu alunos de quatro turmas que apresentaram no ano em questão o percentual de 18,66% de evasão. Foi realizada entrevista oral, gravada em áudio, orientada por questões sobre os motivos da evasão e formas de evitá-las. Além disso, os participantes responderam a um formulário com dados sóciodemográficos e de trabalho. O conteúdo das entrevistas foi organizado segundo o referencial do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo e para análise e interpretação desses dados foi utilizada a análise de conteúdo, modalidade análise temática. Os dados sóciodemográficos foram analisados segundo a frequência de suas variáveis. Resultados: os participantes são em maioria mulheres, com idade entre 18 e 35 anos, filhos de pais com baixo nível de instrução, pois a maioria não cursou o ensino médio e 50% das famílias vivem com renda de um a três salários mínimos. As causas de evasão apontadas pelos entrevistados foram categorizadas em individuais (maternidade, mudança de endereço, doença na família), ambientais (necessidade de trabalhar, dificuldades financeiras, incompatibilidade de horários) e acadêmicas (insatisfação com a escolha do curso, com o trabalho de conclusão de curso, com o resultado acadêmico insatisfatório). Os fatores ambientais predominaram destacando-se a incompatibilidade de horários como a principal causa de evasão. Este fator está vinculado à dificuldade de conciliar as atividades acadêmicas e o mundo do trabalho e é decorrente da necessidade de trabalhar para compor o orçamento familiar. Os participantes sugeriram ações de acolhimento (ouvir os alunos, busca ativa), medidas acadêmicas (diversificar horários, melhorar o TCC) e medidas de apoio aos alunos com dificuldades financeiras como formas de evitar a evasão. Ouvir o aluno, no sentido de “estar atento” às suas dificuldades e enfrentamentos, sobretudo no processo ensino aprendizagem foi proposto por dois participantes e considerada pela equipe escolar ao receber a devolutiva dos resultados como a ação mais importante no combate da evasão, principalmente, pelo seu caráter preventivo e humanizado. Conclui-se que o acesso e a permanência do estudante no curso envolvem não só questões pedagógicas como também medidas que considerem o contexto e a singularidade do aluno, bem como requerem corresponsabilidade de todos os profissionais envolvidos

Concerns over the academic success of first-time ninth-grade students transitioning into the high school setting continue to stimulate substantial interest in identifying the various factors that cause the ninth-grade bottleneck.  Extensive research shows that when ninth-grade students transition into the high school setting, students have a difficult time navigating the more academically rigorous, less nurturing, usually larger and anonymous high school setting.  Studies have shown that transition practices to help ninth-grade students are successful in making this transition smoother and more successful for incoming freshmen, thereby leading to more credits and a stronger chance for students to earn a diploma. This dissertation is a replication of a previous Virginia Tech study completed by Henry Johnson titled High School Transition Practices for Ninth Graders: A Descriptive Study of Maryland Public High Schools, but it focuses on public schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  The primary data collection method was a survey that was sent to all Virginia principals.  First, results from the survey were analyzed to develop a description of the various transition practices existing in Virginia\'s public high schools in relation to school size, demographics, and community type.  Second, the survey data were analyzed to determine the various perceptions of school officials concerning the effectiveness of reported transition practices.  The data provide a description of the transition practices in Virginia's public schools.  Results from this study give administrators and policymakers an idea of what type of transition practices exist in the various public schools in Virginia as well as the perceived effectiveness of the practices in place. / Ed. D.