Part Two – Overage Students

Desiree is a drop out. After
working for two years, she says it would be hard to go back to
her old high school. Desiree says, “So they might say, ’Oh,
Desiree thinks she’s too good.’ No, I’m just
at a different level then you. I’ve been out in the world
and I’ve experienced stuff that you guys don’t know
anything about.”

That’s the problem. Often kids like Desiree are too old….too
mature….for their classmates. School counselor Dr. Adair
White-Johnson says, “If that child is 15 in the 7 th grade,
you can see the handwriting on the wall what’s going to happen.”

Desiree would be in danger of dropping out again. But instead
of regular high school, she now goes to the Performance Learning
Center in Marietta, Georgia. Like a growing number of schools around
the country, it’s designed to keep overage kids from dropping
out.

Desiree says, “Because we are all close to the same age
range, we hang out, you know what I mean. We are more on the same
level than if we had a 15-year-old here who just wanted to play,
play, play all the time.”

Experts say most school systems have an alternative program that
can help kids catch up academically, while still being around kids
their own age. Dr. White-Johnson says, “It’s just a
matter of getting them to believe that yes they can do it. And
just because you don’t graduate high school in four years,
doesn’t mean you cannot graduate high school. And it doesn’t
make you any less of a person. Because 20 years from now, who cares
if you graduated in four years on four and a half?”

Here, Desiree’s classes are small, the lessons are online.
She says that helps her pay more attention than she did in a traditional
classroom. And if she’s motivated….she can finish
early.

Desiree says, “You work at your own pace. When you are
finished with one lesson you can go onto the next. You don’t
have to wait on the entire classroom to be at that point where
you are.”

Counselors advise parents to ask what programs are available
to overage students in your school system. The options may include
tutoring, online classes, or night school.

Performance learning centers can be extremely important for students
who are considering dropping out of school. It can mean the difference between
getting a diploma or not, and research has shown it can lead to a significant
difference in lifetime income. According to the National Center for Education
Statistics, in 2001, 11 percent of the U.S. population between 16 and 24 was
not enrolled in school, did not have a high school diploma, or lacked a General
Educational Development (GED) credential. In 2000, adults aged 25 to 34 who
had dropped out of school or had not acquired a GED earned up to 30 percent
less than their peers who had completed high school or had their GEDs.

The strongest predictors that a student is likely to drop out are
family characteristics, such as socioeconomic status, family structure,
family stress (e.g., death, divorce, family moves) and the mother’s
age. Students most likely to drop out come from low-income families,
are the children of single, young, unemployed mothers, or have experienced
high degrees of family stress. Of these characteristics, low socioeconomic
status bears the strongest relationship to students’ tendency to
drop out. One study shows such students are four times as likely
to drop out. Consider the following statistics concerning dropouts:

• Rates of high-risk behaviors, such as teen pregnancy, delinquency,
  substance abuse and crime, are significantly higher among dropouts.
• Hispanics have the largest dropout rate of any ethnic or racial
  group. During the 2000-01 academic year, nearly 9 percent of Hispanics
  in grades 10 through 12 dropped out before the end of the year.
  Overall, only 5 percent of high school students dropped out. The
  language barrier and socioeconomic factors are cited as reasons
  why Hispanics tend to have higher dropout rates than other ethnic
  groups.
• Sixty-three percent of high school dropouts who were in the
  eighth grade in 1988 had earned a high school diploma or an alternative
  credential (such as a GED) by 2000, eight years after their expected
  graduation.
• At the federal level, the School Dropout Prevention Program
  was authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to provide
  three-year grants to states and school districts to assist in dropout
  prevention and school re-entry activities.
• The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to report graduation
  rates and demonstrate that schools are making progress in curbing
  dropout rates.
• Students who repeat a grade, even as early as kindergarten,
  significantly increase their chances of dropping out.

There are a variety of reasons why students don’t
graduate from high school. Some of the most common reasons include:

• A dislike of school
• Low academic achievement
• Low retention at grade level
• A sense that teachers and administrators do not care about students
• The inability to feel comfortable in a large, depersonalized
  school setting

While it’s easy to place the blame on a child when he or
she drops out of school, it doesn’t address the most important
problem: What can be done to educate this student? The National Mental
Health Information Center offers the following hints to help parents
on the road to dropout prevention:

• Focus on student goals – Instead of focusing on why your
  child is unsuccessful in school, have your child identify what
  he or she wants to get from the school experience. Have him or
  her list school, home and personal barriers to reaching that goal.
  Sometimes talking about getting past the barriers to reaching a
  goal helps focus efforts more productively than just complaining
  or quitting.
• Encourage school involvement – Encourage your child to
  attend school regularly and to be involved in at least one extracurricular
  activity at school or with groups of students who are currently
  in school. These activities make your child feel like part of the
  group, important to the school and more motivated to perform in
  order to participate. If your child’s lack of academic success
  restricts him or her from every activity except academics, your
  child often sees no value in continuing to try. He or she must
  have something positive to look forward to that will meet the kinship/companionship
  needs of being a teen. If your child isn’t able to meet these
  needs in the school setting, he or she often finds ways to meet
  these needs in less desirable settings and groups.
• Consider alternative school settings – Speak with the
  school counselor and/or school psychologist to see if your child’s
  goals can be reached in the current school environment. If not,
  have the school identify ideas for alternative settings for your
  child’s learning. Include your child in all discussions with
  school personnel. If you investigate alternative education settings,
  have your child make the contacts and visits, complete forms and
  ask questions. He or she must see that personal responsibility
  is a must when he or she asks to be treated as an adult.
• Consider realistic postsecondary goals – Don’t get
  hung up on the issue of your child going to college. The more important
  questions are, “What does my child find interesting, and
  what is he or she good at?” and, “Which of these skill
  areas is marketable?” If attending college is the way to
  reach the vocational goal, set steps in place to get there. In
  many cases, a postsecondary technical training or two-year community
  college program is more appropriate to meet your child’s
  goals and get him or her employable.
• Consider the GED – This equivalency examination is very
  well respected among employers and higher education institutions.
  Students can study for this examination through community education
  programs, alternative education programs or independently. The
  point is to stress to your child that the diploma or GED is only
  the first step to finishing his or her education. The workforce
  of tomorrow will likely require postsecondary education for even
  entry-level jobs.
• Identify special needs – Consult with school personnel
  to determine if your child might have a specific learning or behavior
  problem interfering with learning. Low achievement, low retention
  in grade and behavioral difficulties are highly predictive of dropping
  out of school. Assessment of possible learning and behavior problems
  might help identify special services to help your child find school
  more successful.

In addition to stressing the importance of finishing high school,
you may want to stress the benefits of graduating from college. Grants
and scholarships are available in abundance, and loans are available
for students who may not meet the criteria for grants and loans.
Also, going to and completing college will provide your child with
a long-term goal to strive for after completing high school. The
first step, however, is to make sure they understand why college
is important. The U.S. Department of Education says a college degree
can mean:

• Greater knowledge – A college education will increase
  your child’s ability to understand developments in science and
  in society, to think abstractly and critically, to express thoughts
  clearly in speech and in writing, and to make wise decisions. These
  skills are useful both on and off the job.
• Greater potential – A college education can help increase
  your child’s understanding of the community, the nation and the
  world as they explore interests, discover new areas of knowledge,
  consider lifelong goals and become responsible citizens.
• More job opportunities – The world is changing rapidly.
  Many jobs rely on new technology and already require more brainpower
  than muscle power. In your child’s working life, more and more
  jobs will require education beyond high school. With a college
  education, your child will have more jobs from which to choose.
• More money – A person who attends college generally earns
  more than a person who does not. For example, in 2002, a person
  with a college degree from a four-year college earned over $23,500
  more annually than a person who did not go to college, and over
  $32,000 more annually than a person who did not graduate college.
  Someone with a two-year associate’s degree also tends to earn more
  than a high school graduate.

National Center for
Education Statistics
National Mental Health and
Education Center
U.S. Department of Education
American
Demographics
Gevirtz
Graduate School of Education – University of California,
Santa Barbara
National
Association of School Psychologists
District
Administration