ERIC Identifier: ED282094
Publication Date: 1987-00-00
Author: Naylor, Michele
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on
Adult Career and Vocational Education Columbus OH.
Reducing the Dropout Rate through Career and Vocational
Education. Overview. ERIC Digest No. 63.
The social, economic, and political costs of the dropout problem have
been well documented. According to Brown (1985), the ts in lost tax revenues and
payments to welfare recipients incurred as a result of the dropout problem
amount to $20 billion annually. Willis (1986) cites figures stating that, based
on estimates that the lifetime earnings loss of a single male dropout is
$187,000 and that of a single female dropout is $122,000, the lost lifetime
earnings from a high school with a 40 percent dropout rate amounts to $3.2
billion. The shrinking entry-level labor pool (estimated to represent 16 percent
of the population in 1995 as opposed to a previous level of 25 percent) is also
making it increasingly difficult for business to ignore those members of this
pool whom they could previously overlook--poorly motivated youth who lack
fundamental literacy skills and are unacquainted with the responsibilities of
the world of work (Brown, 1985).
WHY DO STUDENTS DROP OUT?
Examining the reasons why students drop out, Willis (1986) discusses the
following correlates of educational risk: family structure and poverty, race and
ethnicity, language, residence, economic displacement, and gender. Indicators of
educational risk, according to Willis, are student attendance, school
continuation rates, academic performance, involvement in school activities,
student behavior, attitudes toward school, need for employment, nature of family
support, involvement in out-of-school activities, and involvement with the
juvenile justice system. This does not mean, however, that dropping out is just
a minority or urban problem. Noting that since 1970 the dropout rate for blacks
has decreased nationally, whereas that for whites has edged up steadily, Brown
(1985) prefers to categorize high risk youth as either alienated ("uninterested
in or dissatisfied with the values represented by school and work" and lacking
in "motivation to succeed in expected ways" (p. 9), disadvantaged and alienated,
or simply disadvantaged.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF CAREER AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN DROPOUT PREVENTION?
In view of the risk factors, then, the key to reducing the dropout rate is
helping youth to overcome their sense of disconnection. Miller and Imel (1987)
attest that students with low motivation to attend school have shown improvement
in school attendance and retention after participating in career education and
that vocational students who have participated in career education are more
likely to complete the vocational program they have selected. An analysis
performed by Mertens, Seitz, and Cox (1982) on data obtained in 1979 and 1980
interviews with the New Youth Cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys of
Labor Force Behavior, confirmed that, all else being equal, the more vocational
classes students took, the less likely they were to drop out of school. The
relationship between vocational education and the choice to stay in school was,
however, only statistically significant in grades 10 and 12 (and negative but
not significant for grade 11). Furthermore, the effect was quite small in both
grades 10 and 12 (Mertens, Seitz, and Cox, 1982).
Miller and Imel (1987) offer some reasons for the size of this effect when
they discuss the importance of the quality of the vocational education
experienced by different students. They point out that casual exploration
through vocational courses or work experience that is not related to learning
goals is less effective than is major concentration in a vocational program.
Thus, they recommend that vocational and career educators desiring to improve
student retention develop individualized plans (including educational goals,
strategies to reduce barriers to the achievement of goals, and timeliness for
monitoring progress on these goals) such as those used with handicapped
students. They further recommend small programs with 2-6 teachers serving 25-60
students. They also say that the most successful programs are those in which
students are encouraged to be cooperative rather than competitive.
WHAT KINDS OF PROGRAMS ARE NEEDED?
Weber (1986) recommends the following:
(1) more systematic and intensive efforts to identify and assist potential
dropouts prior to and at entry into vocational programs;
(2) program activities to enhance school climate and reduce absenteeism,
class-cutting, and drug and alcohol abuse;
(3) systematic awareness and educational activities directed toward enhancing
parents' involvement in program planning and support;
(4) more extensive career exploration and related career education
experiences, particularly prior to and at the transition into high school;
(5) improvement of transitions through a vocational program to direct
dropout-prone students to job-specific skill training courses;
(6) review and evaluation of work study experiences for dropout-prone
students to ensure that they involve concrete objectives and program
experiences, clear linkages with students' overall school programs, and built-in
(7) review of rules governing vocational program entry to ensure student
access to and participation in vocational and work study programs with firm ties
to overall school plans and goals;
(8) activities to increase dropout-prone student participation in the
vocational program and enhance linkages between students' vocational experiences
and their other school-related experiences and activities (pp. x-xi).
WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS?
The literature contains many examples of career and vocational programs that
have been successful in keeping students from dropping out or helping dropouts
re-enroll in and complete high school. Such programs may be run by schools
exclusively; may be based on a school-business partnership; or may even involve
counseling to parents.
Willis (1986) mentions the work done by the Southwest Educational Development
Laboratory (SEDL) and the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) confirming the
relationship between parent involvement and school achievement. One school
business partnership that encourages parent involvement in career counseling and
planning is the Peninsula Academies Program, which is based at Menlo-Atherton
High School and Sequoia High School in California's Silicon Valley. Students are
matched with mentors from cooperating companies who volunteer to spend time with
students in career-related big brother or big sister roles; to take students to
their companies to expose them to the world of work; and to work with parents in
helping the students formulate career plans (Justiz and Kameen, 1987).
The Peninsula Academies also provide a program of formal classroom
instruction to 30 students per year per academy. Students are provided with 3
years of instruction in computers or electronics, beginning in the 10th grade.
Distinctive features of the program include its highly work-related curriculum,
exposure to real jobs through work experience and paid summer employment, and a
final incentive of a job waiting for all students who graduate from the program
and high school. Area firms contribute lab instructors on loan, funding,
equipment, mentors, speakers, field trip sites, and summer jobs (PENINSULA
ACADEMIES PROGRAM, 1984).
Other exemplary career and vocational education programs for high-risk
students include the following:
--Middle College High School at La Guardia College in New York City exposes
high-risk 10th- to 12th-grade students to career options through internships and
work placements (Brown, 1985).
--Cities in Schools, a multisponsored program focusing on youth and their
families, which is headquartered in Washington D.C., presents high-risk youth
with a coordinated package linking social and business services to the
educational system (Brown, l985.)
--The Philadelphia High School Academies Program, which has been operating
since 1970, is distinguished by its combination of personal attention and
follow-up with actual work experience to provide disadvantaged inner-city high
school students with marketable job skills in the electrical occupations,
business, auto mechanics, and health care (Brown, l985.)
--The Cooperative Federation for Education Experiences (COFFEE) is an
exemplary public-private partnership involving the Digital Equipment Corporation
and the public schools of Oxford, Massachusetts. Based on a blend of academic
study, occupational training, counseling, pre-employment experience, and
physical education, the program combines academic instruction in a regular high
school with training for entry-level positions in high-technology fields (Justiz
and Kameen, 1987).
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Brown, Rexford. RECONNECTING YOUTH: THE NEXT STAGE OF REFORM. Denver:
Business Advisory Commission, Education Commission of the States, 1985. ED 272
Justiz, Manuel J., and Marilyn C. Kameen. "Business Offers a Hand to
Education." PHI DELTA KAPPAN 68 (1987): 379-383.
Mertens, Donna M., Patricia Seitz, and Sterling Cox. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND
THE HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT. Columbus: The National Center for Research in
Vocational Education, The Ohio State University, 1982. ED 228 397.
Miller, Juliet V., and Susan Imel. "Some Current Issues in Adult, Career, and
Vocational Education." In TRENDS AND ISSUES IN EDUCATION, 1986, edited by E.
Flaxman. Washington, DC: Council of ERIC Directors, Educational Resources
Information Center, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S.
Department of Education, 1987. ED 281 897.
PENINSULA ACADEMIES PROGRAM. Redwood City, CA: Sequoia Union High School
District, 1984. ED 239 608.
Weber, James M. THE ROLE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN DECREASING THE DROPOUT
RATE. Columbus: The National Center for Research in Vocational Education, The
Ohio State University, 1986. ED 264 444.
Willis, Harriet Doss. STUDENTS AT RISK: A REVIEW OF CONDITIONS,
CIRCUMSTANCES, INDICATORS, AND EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS. Elmhurst, IL: North
Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1986.