Issues Related to Student Persistence toward Graduation in Public Schools: A Research Based Tool for Educators

This abstract focuses on a project report addressing persistence toward graduation. The product will provide a comprehensive resource for school district leaders to use in the identification of at-risk students and research based dropout prevention programs. With the passage of "No Child Left Behind" in 2002 legislation has put a greater emphasis on school districts to increase persistence toward graduation. The number of students leaving high school without a diploma has created an educational and economic problem. Educational leaders are faced with the challenge of educating students and aiding them as they persist towards graduation. In addition, educational leaders are faced with a lack of resources available to assist in identifying students at risk earlier and providing dropout prevention programs in one comprehensive resource. Research available on dropout prevention programs and identification of at-risk students was investigated. After an examination of the literature, two needs assessments were completed by a select group of district leaders. These school district leaders reported the need for a comprehensive resource that provided dropout prevention programs and identification of at-risk students. A prototype was developed in a form of an interactive website. This website was developed to assist school district leaders in increasing persistence toward graduation. A review of the prototype was completed to make improvements to the website. Finally, a user group was selected to establish the usefulness of the website. As a result, the final version of the interactive website was developed to meet the needs of school district leaders. This product provides an on-line resource supporting persistence toward graduation. It offers a comprehensive resource for educational leaders, to review dropout prevention programs. The website offers an open forum for educators to post comments about at-risk factors, identification of at-risk students, and dropout prevention programs. The user-friendly website was designed for educational leaders to easily maneuver through in order to review dropout prevention programs assisting in the goal of increasing persistence toward graduation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]