Experimental evaluation of a high-school program for potential dropouts.

Abstract

Approximately 75 potential dropouts (29 classified as "aggressive", 46 as "passive") were exposed to a program that differed from the regular school program in 4 main ways: (a) a small, stable pupil-teacher ratio; (b) a vocational curriculum; (c) a counselor immediately available; and (d) afternoon jobs for pay and school credit. Evaluation was in terms of drop-out rates, police contact rates, and attitudes assessed by before-after interviews; comparison was with an equal number of potential dropouts enrolled in the regular school program. The program in general was unsuccessful in altering drop-out behavior, but the aggressive Se in the experimental group improved reliably more than others in attitude toward school.

Graduation from high school as predicted from the California psychological inventory

“…Treatment of the potential dropout is not easy (cf. Longstreth, Shanley, & Rice, 1964), but it is more likely to succeed if it is addressed to the underlying factors brought into view by proper diagnosis.…”

Chapter VI: Adolescence: Cultural Deprivation, Poverty, and the Dropout

“…A study of Longstreth, Shanley, and Rice (1964) is in one sense typical of many programs (small pupil-teacher ratio, vocational curriculum, counseling, and work experience), but in another sense it is quite distinctive in its inclusion of a control group. Studying high school students who were potential dropouts and subdividing them into an "aggressive" and a "passive" group, they found that a three-year program produced no difference between groups in incidence of dropout or in police contact.…”

An Analysis of a Work-Study Program for Inner-City Pupils

“…The most technically sophisticated study was done by Longstreth, Stanley & Rice (1964). Using a variety of measures, they concluded that the program had only innocuous educational and vocational effects, despite the fact that the students were very supportive of it.…”