Resources for Preventing Dropouts and Promoting Graduation
- Wisconsin State and Local Resources
- Alternative Education
- At-Risk
- Compulsory Attendance/Truancy Reduction
- Data and Data Definitions
- Graduation
- Students with Disabilities
- Other
- National Resources
Alternative Education
Alternative Education
The alternative education program works with school districts to develop programs
that help all students to be successful.
Alternative Education Q & A
Wisconsin’s GED/HSED Program
Wisconsin’s GED/HSED Program Requirements
At-Risk
At-Risk Program Grant Page
A categorical aid program. Under §118.153 (2) Wis. Stats., every school board in the state must identify the children who are at risk of not graduating from high school and, annually by August 15, develop a plan describing how the school board will meet the needs of those students.
Children At-risk for Not Graduating from High School
The Department of Public Instruction administers the Children at Risk of Not Graduating from High School Aid Program. This is a categorical aid reimbursement program established by the Wisconsin Legislature to provide $3.5 million to prevent school failure in students who are determined to be at risk of not graduating from high school. Available to schools with a high number of dropouts, the program funds specialized services for at-risk youth.
Youth Challenge Academy
The Wisconsin National Guard Challenge Academy is a residential program committed to improving the quality of life for 16 to 18 year old at-risk teens. In the residential phase, much of the Cadets’ time is spent in classrooms where preparing for the High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED) testing is the priority. In addition to classroom instruction by licensed teachers, activities include anger management classes, character development curriculum, rappelling, ROPES courses, experiential activities, community service projects, and leadership experiences.
Compulsory Attendance/Truancy Reduction
Alliance for Attendance Peer Consultation Network
The Alliance for Attendance is comprised of representatives from eight school districts that report the majority of habitual truants, out of school suspensions, expulsions and dropouts for the state of Wisconsin. The purpose of the Network is to share what districts and communities are doing to prevent, intervene and return students who are truant, suspended, expelled, and dropouts by provide ongoing feedback among members regarding tier local policies and practices. The Network also serves as a vehicle to disseminate new state policy and initiative information, and to review publications from other districts, states and national
resource centers regarding how others are addressing similar challenges. For more information, contact Dan Wiltrout, DPI Compulsory School Attendance Consultant.
Answers to Frequently Asked Compulsory School Attendance Questions
Compulsory School Attendance
Contains information about compulsory school attendance laws and school board powers pertaining to student suspensions and expulsions. Also, links are provided to additional resources about truancy, suspensions, and expulsions.
Data and Data Definitions
Understanding Dropout Data
Understanding High School Graduation Completion Data
Graduation
High School Graduation in Wisconsin
Standards and requirements for high school graduation, PI 18.
Strategies for Improving Graduation Outcomes: Policy and Practice Considerations for Wisconsin
Students with Disabilities
Graduation Procedures for Students with Disabilities (Information Update Bulletin 01.02)
How students with disabilities meet the high school graduation policies developed by the local school board.
Special Education District Profile
Wisconsin graduation, dropout, and expulsion/suspension statistics for students with disabilities by district.
Transition Services for Students with Disabilities
Information about the requirements for transition services for Wisconsin students with disabilities, as well as related resources and materials. Includes links to the Wisconsin State Transition Initiative, which assists school districts in addressing the transition related requirements of IDEA and Wisconsin state law.
Other
21st Century Learning Centers
The purpose of the program is to create community learning centers that provide students with academic enrichment opportunities, as well as additional activities designed to complement their regular academic program.
Dual Credit Programs: State Definitions and Policies
Education of Incarcerated Students
Operation Fresh Start
Operation Fresh Start is a youth development program addressing core issues facing low-income communities: education, employment, crime prevention, affordable housing, and leadership development. At OFS, low-income young people ages 16-24 work toward their GED or high school diploma, learn job skills, and serve their communities by building affordable housing. In the process, they fundamentally change their lives and roles in society.
Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS)
Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) is a systemic approach to proactive, school-wide behavior based on a Response to Intervention (RtI) model. PBIS applies evidence-based programs, practices and strategies for all students to increase academic performance, improve safety, decrease problem behavior, and establish a positive school culture. Schools implementing PBIS build on existing strengths, complementing and organizing current programming and strategies.
Service-Learning
Service-learning is a teaching method that engages students in solving problems within their schools and communities as part of their academic studies. Research has shown that service-learning has an enduring positive impact on students' academic achievement, civic engagement, and personal and social development. Service-learning is an effective instructional pedagogy which asks students to use their abilities and skills to make their school, local, and global communities stronger. It is a key strategy in developing 21st century skills which will lead
to a prepared workforce and a civically engaged citizenry.
Wisconsin Covenant
The Wisconsin Covenant is a program created to inspire young people to plan early for a successful high-school career that will lead to higher education.
Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate
The intent of the Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate Program is to recognize a student's mastery of employability skills valued by employers, to help students explore a career interest, and to provide a state credential of student mastery of employability skills. The main strategy is to provide, within state guidelines, state certification of a broader range of local district school-supervised work-based learning programs. The employability skills in this program have been identified through the U.S. Department of Labor's Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) in partnership with educators, business, industry, and labor representatives. It will further serve to provide
state certification to existing and new work-based learning programs including “regular” cooperative education programs, general work experience programs, etc.
Achieving Graduation for All: A Governor’s Guide to Dropout Prevention and Recovery
This report from the National Governors Association Center addresses the alarming rate at which students in the United States drop out of high school.
Alliance for Excellent Education
The Alliance for Excellent Education is a national policy and advocacy organization that works to make every child a high school graduate - to prepare them for college, work, and to be contributing members of society. Founded in 2001, the Alliance focuses on America's six million most at-risk secondary school students - those in the lowest achievement quartile - who are most likely to leave school without a diploma or to graduate unprepared for a productive future. The Alliance works to encourage the development and implementation of federal and national policies that support effective high school reform and increased student achievement and attainment. It works to synthesize and distribute research and information about promising practices that enlightens the national debate about education policies and options.
American Youth Policy Forum
The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan professional development organization based in Washington, DC, which provides learning opportunities for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers working on youth and education issues at the national, state, and local levels. The website includes links to webcasts, e-bulletins, and publications.
Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement
The Learning Point Associates Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement has gathered the best “how to” information for schools planning, implementing, or sustaining whole-school reform. These resources offer practical advice and templates, as well as data collection instruments, surveys, and other program evaluation tools.
Diplomas Now
An example of a model being used in a large urban district setting. Diplomas Now is an innovative school turnaround model that unites three experienced nonprofit organizations to work with the nation’s most challenged middle and high schools to deliver the right interventions to the right students at the right time. Diplomas Now unites three organizations – City Year, Communities In Schools and Talent Development – each one with years of experience in youth service and third-party evidence of impact on helping students succeed. Diplomas Now works closely with school administrators and teachers to identify off-track youth and develop, implement and sustain comprehensive, targeted and customized strategies to get them back on track. Diplomas Now is deliberately designed to incorporate, complement and accelerate the impact of other promising and innovative efforts that aim to boost post-secondary success.
Dropouts In America: Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis, by Gary Orfield (editor),br> Available from Harvard Education Press
In this book, the Harvard Civil Rights Project reveals the scope of this hidden crisis, reviewing the most recent and accurate data on graduation and dropout rates, exploring the reasons that young people drop out of school, and presenting the most promising models for helping high school students graduate with their peers. Dropouts in America is a call to action for educators, advocates and policymakers alike, and a resource for those concerned with equal rights and the quality of American education.
Dropout Prevention Practice Guide
A summary of research and recommendations from the What Works Clearinghouse around dropout prevention. This guide seeks to help educators develop practice and policy alternatives for implementation. The guide includes specific recommendations and indicates the quality of the evidence that supports these recommendations.
Dropout Risk Factors and Exemplary Programs: A Technical Report
This study, conducted by NDPC/N, and sponsored by Communities In Schools Inc., finds that there are multiple risk factors which increase the likelihood that students will drop out. The evidence clearly shows that dropout is always the result of a long process of disengagement that sometimes begins before the child enrolls in kindergarten. The report also provides information on 50 programs that were found to be effective in addressing these risk factors.
Early Warning Systems that Support Students At Risk of Dropping Out of High School
This report is a review of a study that examined the school factors that contribute to dropping out of high school. The study emphasized the importance of attendance in overall academic success, and it reveals the need for students having strong relationships with teachers, seeing school as important to their future, and having peer support for academic achievement.
Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention
The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network has identified 15 effective strategies that have the most positive impact on the dropout rate. These strategies have been implemented successfully at all education levels and environments throughout the nation.
Johns Hopkins Center for Social Organization of Schools
The Center for Social Organization of Schools has a focus on the size, scope, location, and characteristics of the Graduation Gap-the difference between existing graduation rates and skill levels in the nation’s high schools and those needed to meet the economic and social challenges of the 21st Century. Included is data on Promoting Power in the nation’s high schools. By comparing the number of seniors to the number of freshmen four years earlier, it is possible to identify which high schools likely have high and low graduation rates.
Journal of At-Risk Issues
Available for purchase from the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network
The Journal of At-Risk Issues (JARI), published by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network, is a nationally refereed journal that contains articles on research and practice in the areas of dropout prevention and youth in at-risk situations. It is published in the summer and winter and abstracted in ERIC.
National Dropout Prevention Center/Network
The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network is a federally funded technical assistance center that provides support and information around effective interventions and programs to address student dropout rates.
National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities
The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities provides technical assistance to design/select and implement effective, evidence-based interventions and programs to address dropout among students with disabilities.
National Center for School Engagement
The National Center for School Engagement was established as a result of more than a decade of educational research conducted by The Partnership for Families & Children. The website includes links to resources concerning school attendance, attachment, and achievement.
Present, Engaged, and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades
This applied research project sought to explore the prevalence, consequences, potential contributing factors and possible responses to chronic absence in grades K-3. To deepen understanding of the issue, this project supported new analysis of national and local data on student attendance patterns, a review of relevant literature, and interviews with practitioners, researchers, and funders about promising practices and programs. This summary presents findings about why chronic early absence matters, what contributes to its prevalence, and what are the implications for action.
Schargel, Franklin P. – Books by Dr. Schargel regarding reducing dropout and increasing graduation rates:
- Dropout Prevention Tools, by Franklin P. Schargel. In print and on CD-ROM, the set presents resources and worksheets used at schools and communities across the country. These tools and techniques demonstrate how to apply the Fifteen Strategies identified through research conducted by The National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University. Available from Eye on Education
- Best Practices to Help At-Risk Learners, by Franklin P. Schargel. This book presents 46 research-based tools, worksheets, and resources which have been field-tested at schools and dropout prevention programs across the country. For teachers, administrators, counselors, and special educators who work with at-risk learners, it helps you apply the Fifteen Strategies identified by The National Dropout Prevention Center and Network at Clemson University. Available from Eye on Education
Schools Moving Up Webinars
Schools Moving Up Webinars are hosted by WestEd and cover a variety of topics, including preventing dropouts. Recent webinars included “What happens to high school dropouts who return to school,” “Reducing school dropout rates,” and “Supporting students in alternative education settings.” To be notified about new Schools Moving Up webinars each month, become a registered user of SchoolsMovingUp for free at http://www.schoolsmovingup.net/cs/wested/register.
Service Learning and Dropout Prevention
Provides an overview of how service learning can be used to reengage students and prevent dropping out.
Services for Expelled Students: Overview of Research and Policy (March 2010)
The REL Midwest at Learning Point Associates has prepared a report for Wisconsin DPI on services for expelled students. The report describes the research on expulsion, services provided to students who are expelled, federal and state policies regarding service provision and future policy directions. A list of additional resources is also provided.
What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools: A Focus on Students with Disabilities
Building on a prior research study, this December 2009 report from the Consortium on Chicago Schools Research documents the use of course performance during students’ freshman year to identify students at risk of dropping out of high school, and determining whether early warning indicators could be used to prevent students with disabilities from dropping out.
What Works
Clearinghouse
The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. The WWC produces practice guides for educators that address instructional challenges with research-based recommendations for schools and classrooms; assesses the rigor of research evidence on the effectiveness of interventions (programs, products, practices, and policies); develops and implements standards reviewing and synthesizing education research; and provides a registry of educational evaluation researchers to assist schools, school districts, and program developers with designing and
carrying out rigorous evaluations.
For questions about this information, contact Eva M. Kubinski (608) 266-2899
Last updated on 3/30/2012 8:42:43 AM
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