Date of Award
8-1-2010
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Organizational Unit
Morgridge College of Education
First Advisor
Kent Seidel, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Elinor Katz
Third Advisor
Kathy Green
Fourth Advisor
Douglas Allen
Keywords
Dropout, Middle School, Suburban district
Abstract
Dropping out of school is associated with a wide array of negative outcomes and the extraordinarily high United States dropout rate has brought the issue to the forefront of American education.
This study investigated normally collected middle school data from a suburban Colorado school district to determine the predictive value toward students dropping out or graduating from high school. Accessed was a longitudinal data set of first year in middle school records, 7th grade, from 1999-2003 for students that graduated or dropped out from a Colorado suburban high school from 2003-2007. Discriminate function analysis was utilized on 2,195 student school records, that included 106 dropout and 2,089 graduate student academic and demographic data, to determine the strength of the data to predict group membership.
Middle school student's metamorphosis from child to adolescent is a uniquely critical time in a student's growth due to physical, social, psychological, and brain synaptic pruning. Dropping out of school is influenced by a wide array of external and internal school concerns but if clear set of red flags were available for easy identification of at risk students concerned school personal may best bring interventions to bear in the middle school setting. This study found that for this data set there was a slight correlation between grades in Language Arts and Math with a greater predictive power from Social Studies, Science, and Physical Education, subjects often overlooked in other studies. The conclusion stated that a clear set of warning signals was found with a strong enough probability of dropout identification to be considered as warning indicators and therefore all indicators need to be considered for every child on an individual level.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
William Sherman Gregg
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
en
File Size
117 p.
Recommended Citation
Gregg, William Sherman, "Middle School Student Records as Dropout Indicators" (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 247.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/247
Copyright date
2010
Discipline
Educational administration, Elementary education, Secondary education