By Peter Chaban
The beginning of summer heralds the end of the school year for all students, and for some it also brings their graduation from high school. Yet a recent study by researcher Christopher B. Swanson found that many students in the United States, especially those in large urban centres, are struggling to graduate. Reviewing school data for 2002 and 2003, Swanson identified that close to 31% or 1.2 million students of an expected 4 million will not graduate with their peers. Swanson goes on to calculate that in the United States, 7,000 students drop out of school every day.
In Ontario, the statistics are very similar. Recent data released for the 2004-05 graduating across Ontario high schools show that 29% of students are leaving school before they graduate.
Recently, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) completed a study to try to understand who these young people are and why they are leaving. The study interviewed nearly 200 young people across the province to get some insight into why they left school. The study, called Early School Leavers: Understanding the Lived Reality of Student Disengagement from Secondary
School , was led by Dr. Bruce Ferguson.
Who leaves school before graduation?
In the United States, the majority of early school leavers live in large urban centres. In large cities, the drop out rate is highest among minority groups. In the US, only 52% of black students graduate and only 57% of Hispanic students graduate. In Ontario, the problem appears in both urban and rural communities. The high risk groups for leaving school include First Nations youth, newcomers, especially those for whom English is a new language, students from visible minorities, and children from poor families.
Yet across all communities and groupings, a large portion of students, close to one third of those who leave school, are actually doing quite well — achieving at least average grades. What begins to emerge from the SickKids study is a complex picture of why students leave school in Ontario. Some factors are cultural, some economic, some personal, but there are also school factors.
Why do they leave?
Some common themes emerged from the 200 interviews completed by researchers from SickKids. One recurring theme was that students who dropped out felt unconnected to their schools. Some students felt pushed out by negative school cultures, inflexible scheduling or programming, social isolation or cultural clashes. Other students felt pulled out of school by family responsibilities, a sense that the outside world offered more opportunity or that their only supportive community was outside of school. In either case, students identified a lack of engagement by teachers and principals as a critical factor for leaving.
Another interesting observation that came out of the study was that there was no single factor that led these students to leave school. It was long complex pathway that led to their final decision to leave. Dropping out was not an event; rather, it was a process. As such, there are many factors that go into dropping out, but this also means that there are many opportunities to keep students from dropping out.
Keeping students in school
There are many things that schools can do to keep students engaged in learning and school. They can promote positive learning environments that offer tutoring support for students who are struggling. They can offer counseling and outreach services for students coming from ‘at risk’ settings. They can create after school programs that are diverse and inclusive. They can train teachers to assess and modify instruction for students with disabilities. Finally, matching up caring adults, whether they are teachers, administrators, or support staff with students entering high school can work as a protective factor. This shows new high school students that they are welcome and that school is a safe place to grow and learn.
Peter Chaban is a teacher researcher, head of the School Liaison Team, Community Health Systems Resource Group at the Hospital for Sick Children, and learning disabilities representative for the Ontario Minister's Advisory Council on Special Education.
Learning & Education columns by Peter Chaban