High School Dropout: How to use data to help identify and prevent dropouts

In this article, we are going to analyze the US high school dropout picture, find the dropout trends, get to the root reasons student dropouts, and suggest ways to prevent it.

How Many Students Drop Out of High School - Facts and Numbers

Data plays an important role in terms of high school dropouts. Beginning with simply seeing the issue in numbers. Below are high school dropout statistics, facts, and numbers to get a clear picture of US students dropout trends.

• There are 24,000 public high schools in the US, with about 1.2% having 100% graduation rate
• The average graduation rate is 85% in US schools.
• The average US high school dropout rate is 9%.
• 2,000 high schools in the US graduate less than 60% of their students.
• Foreign-born students are less likely to drop out of school compared to children of foreign-born and native parents.
• The graduation rate for students with disabilities is 67%.
• The dropout rate for black students is decreasing year after year.
• 5% of US students who dropped out of high school have parents without a high-school education.
• High school dropouts commit 75% of crimes in the US.
• 75% of students have negative feelings about the high school they are studying in.

Low attendance is the top reason students drop out of high school. Still, this is not the only reason why students drop out of high school. Indeed, the list of possible reasons is extensive, so let’s take a look.

Why Students Drop Out of High School

While the specific reasons for each student’s decision to drop out may vary, decades of data analysis indicates that they can be categorized in the following three buckets:

• School-related reasons. According to research, negative feelings towards the school, the impossibility of getting along with teachers, the feeling of not belonging, and not feeling safe are among the main reasons why students drop out of high school. Reasons behind those can include low social-emotive skills, attendance issues, and lagging behind academically, which in turn can be the result of the attendance issues themselves, learning disabilities, or other academic and non-academic factors.

• Family and community-related reasons. Students from lower economic status communities are fives times more likely to drop out of high school, than peers from communities with higher economic statuses. This is partially correlated by mobility, or frequent educational setting changes, as a result of housing situation changes, which in turn contribute to feelings of not belonging identified above as a root cause of dropouts.

• Employment-related reasons. 20.3 million 16-24 years old students are employed. Supporting their families and saving for college are the main reasons why young people consider getting employed along with studying. And while those who are aimed at studying at college are less likely to drop out, those students in need to support their families are at higher risk. The inability to combine work and studies is a key student dropout reason.

How to Prevent Dropouts

Preventing dropout requires collaborative action on the part of the educational institution, parents, and students themselves. Only the joint effort, where the most part comes from the student, can change the overall picture. Here is what each of the parties can do:

1. Use the power of K12 data analysis. Why, given a problem that is a result of very human actions do we suggest data analysis as the first way in which schools can help? Because while students tend to drop out due to a set of reasons unique to them, they fit certain “profiles” that, if identified correctly and early, can serve as an early warning system. What data are we talking about? You can gather educational data from multiple sources, for example, attendance data, academic performance data, behavior data, data on teaching problems, and the results of students surveys, and correlate this information with the student’s outcomes, seeing who dropped out, and who did not. Being fully aware of the specific reasons, you will be able to develop effective and personalized dropout prevention and student retention strategies.
2. Use data to offer help. According to statistics, 53% of dropouts admitted their parents offered them help, and 24% of dropped out students said their school offered them some assistance as well. That number, especially that of the schools, could increase significantly if K12 data analysis could act as an early warning to identify students who are heading towards a dropout, so that help can be offered to students, before it is too late. Tracking the success of various types of interventions can help shape more comprehensive school-wide programs in the future, by identifying those strategies which showed better outcomes.
3. Allow students to dive into the core disciplines. The opportunity to stay engaged is at the heart of a successful and effective learning experience. Not all the disciplines are equally interesting for all students. However, engaging them with interesting subjects and adding a touch of personalization can be a strong student dropout prevention measure. Combined with the support from teachers and parents, even low-performing students get better chances of improving their grades in the disciplines they are interested in and then do the same with other subjects.
4. Allow the students to be flexible. As late as 2017, only 5% of high schools offered online courses. Still, when a large number of students are forced to work, and post-pandemic reality changes our approaches to education, incorporating more remote opportunities, online courses, and flexible engagement models can be winning for both educational institutions and their learners. By providing online learning resources, schools can help students learn outside of the classroom, expanding the reach of education to times and environments which might be better suited to a student’s reality. Further, many of those resource can provide detailed data about student progress that can identify areas of success or concern. Ideally, those should be discussed with the students, so that they can see where they need to expend resources to succeed.

Conclusion

With an increasing need for education in everyday life, and industry demands for a more educated workforce, the issue of student dropout is very relevant.

Furthermore, the concentration of higher dropout rates in communities of lower economic status perpetuates gaps in achievement, income, and other socio-economic indicators. In the interest of equity, and, more importantly, of allowing all learners to achieve their full potential, students need to remain in school so that they can graduate with a solid foundation for the next steps of their lives.

While achieving 100% graduation is challenging, predicting, and preventing student dropouts is possible with the help of the types of techniques big data uses for a variety of purposes, from the commercial to the academic. Using those techniques to identify students who are likely to drop out, and over time, pair them with the types of intervention that have created a proven track record of successfully preventing dropouts.

Finally, while data can help provide the answers to important questions about dropouts, such as, “Who is likely to drop out?” and, “What can we do about it?” it merits mentioning that at the heart of the success of any student are people. Parents/guardians, educators, administrators, guidance and resource staff, and perhaps most importantly, the students themselves. Helping them track the progress a student is making is important in giving them the tools they need to understand where they are, and with the help of those around them, succeed.