Many youth are able to be successful in the traditional school setting.
Large numbers are not successful. Dropout rates are alarming. There is little
research that examines the drop out problem from the perspective of the youth.
Traditionally programs that are designed to help have been designed by adults.
This qualitative study focused on the voices of youth. Participants in this study
were male clients aged fifteen to seventeen who were adjudicated and court
mandated to receive treatment in a drug treatment center. All of the
participants had a history of delinquency and poor academic achievement. They
had dropped out of school prior to entering the treatment program.
This qualitative study addressed two questions:
1. What are the factors that prevent at-risk youth from being successful
in school?
2. What can schools do to help these youth be successful at school?
This study provided information about what schools could have done to help
these youth be more successful. It also looked at their current academic success
in the treatment program as a possible model to help other youth.
Five youth volunteered to participate in the study. All interviews were
confidential. Interviews were also conducted with a probation officer, program
administrator, teacher, and a parent that had a youth in the program in order to
triangulate results. The voices of students supported the literature with respect
to the factors that contribute to students being at risk for delinquency and
dropping out of school. Some of these factors include issues surrounding anger
management, academic issues, nurturing at school, family situations, school at a
treatment center, hiring teachers, childhood experiences, drug use, obtaining
drugs, crime and drugs, treatment programs, dual diagnosis, communication
and issues surrounding success and failure. The strength of this qualitative
research project lies in the fact that the real voices of students did support the
quantitative literature in this field. / Graduation date: 2004
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/30140 |
| Date | 12 December 2003 |
| Creators | Mazzotta, Margaret Ann |
| Contributors | Engel, Joanne B. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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