DROPPED: An in-Depth Look at the Variables Affecting The High School Dropout Rate

One of the most critical issues prevalent in America’s educational system is the high school dropout rate (Barton, 2005). The problem of school dropouts is widespread among most of the nation’s school districts (Christenson & Thurlow, 2004). Over 50 years ago, Conant (1961) wrote that America was allowing “social dynamite” to accumulate in its most populated areas of the nation. In these areas of our nation, the dropout rates are alarming and are partially the result of several predictor variables! DROPPED was designed to research the relationship between these dropout variables and the race and gender of high school students. Although educators cannot change many of these variables, they can use the research contained in DROPPED to implement changes. Perhaps, there is an opportunity to create effective prevention and intervention initiatives in order to decrease dropout rates in the years to come.