Why Do Students Drop Out of School?

When asked this question, most people assume that kids drop out of school because they can’t handle the coursework. In fact, only about 35% of dropouts quit school because it’s too hard.

Some people think that kids drop out because they hate school – and feel alienated. That may be true for some kids, but the fact is, there is no “typical” dropout.

The reasons kids drop out of school are as complex and varied as their faces and their personal situations.
Here’s a list of some of the reasons kids drop out:

• Family trouble; poverty, violence, drugs, alcohol, too many responsibilities, needing to work and support family members.

• A family that moves a lot, especially in the city, so that the kid is forced to change schools often.

• Teen pregnancy.

• A bad attitude about school.

• The belief (not always inaccurate) that school is meaningless and irrelevant.

• Teachers and others who offer no help or support.

• Poor grades, failing, being held back a grade.

• Lack of involvement or motivation.

• Harsh discipline, suspension, probation for bad behavior.

• A difficult transition to ninth grade. (or fifth or third grade – yes the problem can start that early)

• Parents who are uninvolved, and negative about school

• Poor or no communication with families and support people.

• Absenteeism, consistent lateness and cutting class.

• Negative friendships with gangs or kids who hate school.

• Disregard for special needs, unrecognized talents, unencouraged abilities.

• Feeling like an outsider because of a learning disability or physical or other difference.

• Unacknowledged and sometimes untolerated language and cultural differences. It’s hard to learn in a situation where everyone is expected to share the same beliefs and learn in the same way.

Though this long list still doesn’t address all the potential risk factors, its important to keep in mind that sometimes the most unlikely kids succeed, and equally important, sometimes, the one who seems the most promising drops out.

Why? We think we may know.

Research has shown that no matter the situation, whether boy or girl, struggling student or gifted one, child from poverty or wealth, no matter the reason why they drop out, the reason kids stay in school is simple.

If they are going to stay in school and succeed in life, all kids need the same thing - All kids need strong, supportive relationships.

In fact, research shows that good relationships between kids at-risk and their teachers and/or mentors may significantly increase the chance that the student will not only stay in school, but increase their level of success throughout life.

Seems simple doesn't it? Yet forming strong relationships with kids can be one of the biggest challenges an educator or mentor can face. It takes heart and mind, and some creativity. How do you form strong relationships? What has NOT worked.

In the next post I will provide a surprisingly simple idea that does work, and takes no extra time or preparation.

Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Relationships and Open Doors to Creativity

Look at the kids you work with. Try as they might to fit in, they are individuals. with their own personalities, appearances, opinions and abilities. If all kids (all people) are different, why do we expect them to learn and perform in the same way?

Encouraging kids to show their knowledge and demonstrate their skills or talents in their own ways can help them to build on what they already know, provide them with opportunities to interact with others and open the door to success. In other words, its a great way to engage them in school and learning. The following ideas are drawn from the online course, Making Connections: Strong Relationships Help Keep Kids in School. Click here to learn more about the course.

Ideas mentors and teachers can use to engage kids:
•Challenge them. Ask kids to wrestle with new concepts, explain their reasoning, defend their conclusions, and explore alternative strategies and solutions.

•Encourage active involvement. Involvement in learning includes conducting experiments, participating in debate and role playing, or completing projects.

•Create opportunities for collaborative work. Collaboration includes working in pairs or small groups on activities that require sharing and meaningful interactions. Students are often more receptive to challenging assignments when they can put their heads together rather than work in isolation. Mentors, create opportunities where you can work together to accomplish something significant.

•Tie things to the world outside of school. Topics that are personally interesting and related to their lives make learning more enjoyable for kids.

•Encourage students to express their interests. Use kids' interests to guide the topics and activities you select.

•Provide constructive and regular feedback. Use errors as opportunities to point out better ways of doing things without criticizing kids’ efforts.

•Engage kids as active learners. Active learners don’t just memorize—they think. They ask questions, find resources and use what they learn in new situations.

•Connect teaching and curriculum to real life. Focus your efforts on real life experiences, values, knowledge, and needs of students.

•Be a role model. Kids are watching you, so model good behaviors (like honesty, kindness, creativity, etc.) thinking processes, and procedures.

•Put yourself in their shoes. Try to understand their challenges, experiences and emotions by framing situations from the point-of-view of each individual child. Understanding how each one makes meaning is to take a look into the various factors and characteristics that define their individual perceptions of the world around them.

•Demonstrate a wil
lingness to help. Empathy is a key to building relationships that help keep kids in school.

When building relationships with students, you might be faced with circumstances that are out of your realm of understanding. Remember that you can show empathy by simply listening to their stories. Just listening may help you make meaning of their experiences and provide opportunities to build realtionships by sharing similar experiences you may have had.

Sometimes a Mentor Needs a Mentor too!

I attended a basic mentor training for people who volunteer to work with kids. It was an interesting evening that brought home the point that whether we teach, volunteer, coach or mentor, the key to the work is not the skills we teach, but the relationships we make. This can be very challenging.

I left the training thinking that in spite of my education, and my broad and varied experience working with kids, I wish I that had had the chance to learn more about how to connect with kids, and how to handle the impact of their lives and behavior on my own emotions.

I have worked with kids all my life, starting as a pre-teen babysitter and moving on to day camp counselor, and then a summer camp counselor. I ran an after school arts and crafts program at the Y. I worked one-on-one with a very ill child (and his six siblings). I fulfilled my educational psychology requirements by volunteering with children in the psychiatric ward of a large NYC hospital.

After college, I spent several years doing recreation and occupational therapy in an adolescent psychiatric hospital. I’ve been a TAG teacher, an Olympics of the Mind coach, a mother helper, an artist in the schools; I’ve raised two children, and been part of the lives of numerous friends, scouts, classmates and neighbors.

In my many kid related jobs, I received lots of training, all of it related to research, skills and responsibilities of my job. None, as far as I can remember, was about relating to the kids. Now, when I look back, what stands out the most in my memory was not the days when everything went well, when the art projects got done, when all the kids were happy to play volleyball or write and share poetry, or hike all day. What I remember are the times when things went wrong, and I was unsure about the right thing to do, and where to turn for help.

Those of us who mentor, teach or work with kids make a commitment to do the best possible job we can. We sign up because we want to help kids, to teach them, to enrich their lives, to make the world better. We bring our skills, talents, and good intentions. But in spite of this, and even in the most ideal circumstances, things can (and do) go wrong. I was often unprepared to deal with the ‘surprise events’ that occurred; the moments that were not covered by my job description or training.

Though I was a whiz at creating a work of art out of mismatched tempera paints, dried out brushes, oatmeal boxes and scraps of wood, I had no idea what I supposed to do when a an angry parent arrived in the room yelling … at the kid, or at me.

Though I could organize games, or brainstorm seventeen things to do with a lemon and a paperclip, how could I best help the child who cried to me because her mother had “bumps in her breast?” What was the protocol to deal with a suicide threat written into a short story, or the time a kid ran away from a group outing?
No one ever taught me how to encourage a kid to talk, or get a reluctant kid to join a game. How was I to make a new kid feel welcome, or help a kid fit in, or defuse a fight between two kids who were bigger than me?

In each of these experiences, I did the best I could. My results cover the spectrum from inspiration to "I could have done better."
The mentor training made me realize that my job might have been easier and my results better if I had had a mentor – someone who talked to me about the challenges I faced when I chose to work with kids. Someone who had ideas, and knowledge and experiences that would have prepared me before I had to react, not after.

So these are my questions:

- What kinds of mentor training do you know about?

- If you were training someone to be a mentor, what is the most important thing you would share?

- Were you taught how to mentor? How, where? What did you learn?

- What do you wish you had learned?

Please use this blog to share your thoughts.

Where are the Role Models?

Sometimes questions seem to pop up in several places at the same time. I had a great conversation at Portland State University about the problems that kids have after they graduate (after all the effort to help them NOT DROP OUT). My companion pointed out that (based on her personal experience as well as research) even when they make it through school, some kids find themselves unable to continue to college.

There are many reasons that kids don’t go on to college; financial reasons, or family responsibilities for example. But for some, even if they are able to attend, they don’t go on to college because they simply have no idea what they might be or do if they get there.

This topic also frequently came up in a course I developed and taught, Making Connections, Strong Relationships Help Keep Kids in School . My students (teachers and mentors) wondered how to keep the students who make it through school connected – with learning, with work, and with the desire and inspiration to continue to move forward in their lives. There was lots of conversation about how to inspire the kids who are currently in school (at every grade) with the idea that if they STAY in school – they can go on after school to do something they love, or at least, are interested in.

The one question that was common to every discussion is this - where are the role models? How can teachers and mentors connect their kids with people of every color and kind - who can demonstrate by their simple presence, that there is a place in the world of work for people of every description?

A student expressed it perfectly. “What I want to work on this year is introducing the kids to some successful minority community members. I am thinking about how I can do this in the most effective way, because I want my kids to get to know (and see) business people, doctors, scientists, lawyers, dentists, college professors, business owners, financial planners, engineers, and the like. I want my kids to know that there are more possibilities for them besides being a teacher, working in a factory, in construction, or selling drugs. I really believe that the students need to see successful people who look like them.”

I agree that this is an important issue, so I am including some ideas that teachers and mentors can use to think creatively about find interesting people who do interesting things. I hope that readers will add to my list, even add specifics. If you would like to volunteer to share your experiences with work and school, please post your information and ideas to this blog.

• Start by connecting with local business organizations and the people you know. Contact the Chamber of Commerce in your community (there are many in Metro Oregon.) Most have administrative people who can make suggestions and connections.

• Talk to your friends and colleagues who do interesting work, and have interesting hobbies and sidelines. Ask them to talk to your kids about the things they needed to learn in school to be able to do what they do now.

• Ask these same people about the people they know. Build a list - think of this as your personal backpack of connections.

• Seek out people who do interesting or valuable things - who have NOT gone through the traditional college path - but needed to learn skills to do their work.
• Read the newspaper – this can be a great activity for students. Ask each student to find a story about someone who does something that is interesting to them (mountain rescuers, firefighters, soldiers, artists having an opening show, dancers, photographers, lawyers who win a case, doctors, veterinarians at the zoo …. the possibilities are endless. These articles are useful in several ways – it allows you to build a list of jobs that people do, it lets you get to know your kids a little better, it provides names and organizations connected with the work that people actually do, and, at times, contact information. Use this list to start thinking creatively with your students about ways to invite people to come to your classroom, program or school.
And then there is the serendipity approach. This story, my own experience, shows that just the right thing can happen when you are busy doing something else.
Years ago, I was a teacher in the Talented and Gifted program - working with kids of many colors. One African American girl seemed shy and was having a hard time connecting with the class. I tried everything I knew to connect with her and draw her out - with minimal results … until …We were doing a unit on whales, and the kids had invited a speaker to come from Greenpeace to talk to them - purely randomly, a young black woman came into the classroom. My student literally snapped to attention - she was riveted by this woman. She spoke in class, asked questions and displayed a great sense of humor. What a difference! Long story short the changes stayed. She was a new girl - bright, involved and far more confident. When I asked her at the end of the term what she wanted to be - she (who in the beginning wanted to ‘have no responsibilities’) wanted to be a Marine biologist.

So, I believe the key to finding role models may not be to look for people who fit a description, but to keep your classroom and program open to the many people who may be part of your community. Trust that color is not the only diversity your kids need to see, and that the perfect role model may look different, but still bring that perfect something into the life of a kid, without YOU needing so hard to make things happen. Present as many possibilities as you can, as you go through your classwork and activities, and trust that the details will take care of themselves.

Boyz n the Book: Johnny can read, but won’t and who can blame him?

This post appeared first in my Making Connections blog on Thursday, November 6th, 2008. I was pleased to receive several thougthful comments, which I will include at the bottom of this post. I continue to welcome thoughts from men and boys about what inspired them to love reading, and what got in the way

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A thought provoking article in a recent Weekly Standard magazine points out that there are far more women than men in college these days. The article, Boyz n the Book: Johnny can read, but won’t and who can blame him? (by Mary Grabar) states that “a generation ago, women made up less than half of students. …In 2005 that made up 57 percent of fall enrollments, and the Department of Education estimates the gender discrepancies will increase every year in the foreseeable future.”

Why? The article suggests that the problems that boys are having with reading create a set of problems with study habits and school performance that affects their future success in school.

And, it suggests that their reading problems may be connected to a lack of male influence, and books written to appeal to their interests. “Socially … boys have few male reading role models at home or at school.”
Boys like action, danger, competition, conflict, tests of strength, and strategy,” in their play and their books. This may explain their love for video games, especially those that “present a quest in which the imperiled hero tries to find clues or treasures so he can go on to the next level.” But, the article points to a “lack of ‘masculine’ books that appeal to boys on such topics as sports, war and competition.”

Research on children’s reading interests “consistently shows that boys like to read nonfiction, especially historical nonfiction, (biographies, books on important wars/battles), adventure stories, books on sports, books on facts, and science fiction. Yet, most of the books assigned in school are novels or memoirs.”

Pair this with the fact that most librarians and teachers are women; that mothers read to children more frequently than fathers, and that “those responsible for promoting reading … promote those virtues that appeal to girls, … games and books that tend toward the virtues of cooperation and sensitivity,” and a possible answer to why boys don’t read as much as girls (and therefore are less academically successful) begins to take shape.

The research in this article makes it clear that if we are to encourage boys to love reading, they need books that provide masculine themes and role models. They need stories about soldiers, heroes, male athletes and adventurers. They need to find what they love in books … AND YOU CAN HELP.

Men, please tell me about your favorite books. What books turned you on (or off) to reading? What books do you teach in your classrooms? What books inspired you? Which were the ones you could not put down? Which are the ones the boys you work with love the best? What books would you recommend for the boys you know?

If you could suggest one way to get boys to read, based on your experience, what would you suggest?

Please share your answers and comments here – click on the COMMENT button below. Thank you in advance for your responses.
COMMENTS:
• I always loved to read - even though my Dad wasn’t a reader - except for newspapers. Favorite books - anything by Assimov or Clark, whether from their SciFi or hard science collections. Also loved Hawaii, and the classics.
• What was a turn off for me was having to write book reports. That took all the joy out of the books I read.

• Best way to get boys - or girls for that matter to read is to read to them and/or bring them to a good library with a solid story hour program. What is key is that the reader put an effort into his or her reading so as to bring the characters alive. A flat or dull tone will not work.
• I think the key is to help boys find books about topics they already like. For me it was sports and adventure. I read lots of magazines such as Sports Illustrated and National Geographic. Books - anything on football, basketball, baseball, track. Adventure stories about climbing Mt. Everest, K2, Annapurna, about exploration - Antarctica, Magellan, Sir Francis Drake, etc. The books can be about the topic, or they can be biographies about the people involved. The biographies, if selected well, can impart broader life lessons to kids.
• Speaking from my own experience only, neither of my parents read for pleasure. My mother did try the last 10 years of her life. I never did either. What I read were how-to books; manuals for a wide variety of devices, everything from tools to computers, to how to build or fix something. When I went to Engineering School I did more of this type of reading. All this reading had to be done slowly and carefully. It wasn’t done for fun; it was done to learn something. Reading was for accuracy not fun. And it frequently got tiring. What I did like was Shakespeare. It too had to be read slowly due to the difference in the language. I enjoyed reading most after seeing the play. Then I didn’t have to struggle with the language.

• I never liked sport or war stories. I never had exposure to adventure stories; perhaps they would have been attractive to me.
• The research in the story you cite and the previous comments track with my own experience. As a child I remember reading sections in an old set of Encyclopedias we had - descriptions of far away places like Rome and Athens that I had heard about in stories.

• I especially agree with the comments about using magazines. Most younger kids have a short attention span, and magazines like Sports Illustrated or ESPN magazine have great photos to help tell the story, but are also well-written. For much younger kids, don’t forget about comic books. I used to read and re-read the same 40 or 50 comic books all summer when I was 7 or 8 years old.