Running head: EVIDENCE-BASED INTERVENTION PROGRAM

Evidence-Based Intervention Program

Lawrence Fructueux-Bocco, Alejandra Rodriguez, and Alissa Rhee

Johns Hopkins University

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Dropout Prevention Program- Focus and Purpose

Dropout prevention becomes increasingly imperative as students prepare to transition

from middle school to high school. The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional

Assistance has compiled a list of evidence and research-based recommendations to help prevent

dropouts. One of the recommendations is a school wide intervention where schools personalize

the learning environment and instructional process. Quint et al. (2006) found that a personalized

learning environment creates a sense of belonging and promotes a sense of community. A

personalized learning environment fosters a school climate where students and teachers get to

know one another.

The research behind this recommendation explored the effects of a large educational

community on students graduation rates. It also focused on how building an inclusive learning

environment can work in tandem with school-wide interventions to decrease the number of

dropouts. Wehlage et al. (1989) found that students attending large schools can become

alienated and uninterested to the point where they feel little attachment to school and drop out.

Research has found that student success is bolstered by a caring and ethics-based environment

paired with high expectations for students academic achievement.

Several studies across the United States have seen positive results after working towards

redefining and improving their school culture. There are several ways in which researchers and

educators have aimed to create a positive educational environment. Some of these strategies have

been focused on classroom instruction. Others, have looked into improving the school culture

and student to staff relationships. All of these approaches have been found to address the dropout

crisis at varying degrees.

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Implementation and Intervention

Creating a personalized learning environment and instructional process as an intervention

to prevent students from dropping out can be carried out by: establishing small learning

communities, team teaching, extended time in classroom, and encouraging students

participation in extracurricular activities. This recommendation is beneficial for all grade levels

and teaching teams. Implementing the intervention program is intended to lower dropout rates by

the time scholars transition to high school while retaining and increasing the amount of students

graduating high school and going to college.

This intervention can be leveraged to target different student needs, from students

requiring special education to student who are English Language Learners (ELL). Forging a

small learning community for ELLs where scholars can receive one on one or small groups (2-4

scholars) interventions will help not only students but also teachers in the implementation of

sheltered instruction. Within the ELL community, scholars academic and linguistic needs will

be met by providing lessons and instruction in all subject matters to explain concepts and

information that is comprehensible for each scholar's individual level needs. The community

would also extend to high school to encourage scholars and create consistency before gradually

releasing to college.

Implementing team teaching within these small learning communities benefit scholars by

allowing access to more than one teacher who can share a new perspective and individualize

academic and linguistic needs. While one teacher teaches, the other can provide scholars with in

the moment assistance and support. Teaming teachers benefit in collaborating and establishing

connections with students behavioral and academic progress to plan individualized interventions.
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Developing an individual relationship and interaction within a small learning community

encourages scholars sense of belonging and importance to the school community, especially in

large school settings (National Research Council 2006). Due to the class size of a small learning

community, allowing students extended time provides opportunities to explore and deepen their

understanding of a certain topic individually, with peers and the teacher. Extended time increases

the chances of students being successful in new and reviewed materials. Providing

extracurricular actives based on scholars interest decreases the likelihood of a scholar getting

into trouble or dropping out of school while teaching scholars responsibility and leadership.

Analysis of Dropout Prevention Program

While the research from National Research Council has indicated that these steps to

personalize the learning environment and instructional processes can be effective for any student,

the research indicates that this form of intervention is especially useful for urban schools. The

research in the National Research Councils Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students

Engagement and Motivation to Learn details the disproportionate number of students of color

in urban schools and further documents a trend toward the growing segregation of

low-income students of color in poorly performing urban schools, citing that Orfield (2002)

has found that in schools where 50 to 60 percent of the students are Black or Hispanic, on

average at least 60 percent of the students are poor. In schools where at least 80 percent of the

students are Black or Hispanic, an average of 80 to 90 percent of the students are poor (National

Research Council, 2006).

The existing research also demonstrates that poverty negatively affects student academic

achievement (National Research Council, 2006; Attendance Works, 2015). Previous research
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from Attendance Works cites a 2014 study of New York City schools identified 18 indicators of

deep poverty that affect student achievement and correlated with chronic absence. These

included adult education levels, the percentage of students living in public housing or homeless

shelters, and teacher turnover, among others. It is not always clear whether these risk factors

cause absenteeism or merely correlate with it. But in each case they predict that chronic absence

could become a problem (2015). These same indicators of deep poverty that correlate with high

levels of absenteeism also correlate with high dropout rates, creating more explicit connections

between issues low-income students of color face and their subsequent dropout rates.

Because many of the issues that can lead to students dropping out of school - including

unstable housing, quality of the teachers, and the social and academic climate - are the same

issues that can lead to student absenteeism, the dropout intervention detailed above could be

especially necessary for low-income students of color. Establishing personalized learning

environments has been proven to address issues that are particularly prevalent in urban

schools, but achieving these personalized environments, particularly regarding teacher quality,

educator stability, and small school sizes, has become increasingly difficult for urban schools

(National Research Council, 2006). Developing these interventions, then, has become more

tantamount as the need to improve post-high school outcomes becomes more essential for

competition in a global market. Although the intervention has been rated moderate in its

evidence for efficacy, the structural issues that schools with low-income students face may affect

the schools abilities to sufficiently implement personalized learning environments due to an

absence of resources.
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Conclusions and Recommendations Regarding Dropout Intervention

The structural links between poverty and dropout rates, including but not limited to

difficulties maintaining high quality educators, large school sizes, and general deficiency of

resources, present a significant challenge to those in education, many of whom are already facing

budget cuts. However, if lowering dropout rates is a priority of policymakers and educators alike,

implementing these personalized learning environments must be undertaken with urgency.

Though school size and a general deficiency of resources require solutions that also dismantle

the property tax system that currently provides a majority of funds to schools, recruiting and

retaining high quality teachers who can create small groups, team teach, and facilitate extended

learning time and extracurricular activities could be achieved more immediately. In fact, this first

step must be taken if the dropout rate is to be adequately attended.

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Works Cited

Dropout Prevention. (2008, September). Retrieved July 01, 2017, from

http://www.ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide.aspx?sid=9

Mapping the Early Attendance Gap: Charting a Course for Student Success (Rep.). (2015,
September). Retrieved July 1, 2017, from Attendance Works website:
http://www.attendanceworks.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Mapping-the-E
arly-Attendance-Gap-Final-4.pdf

National Research Council. (2006). Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students
Engagement and Motivation to Learn. Washington (D.C.): National Academy Press.

Quint, J. (2006). Meeting five critical challenges of high school reform: lessons from research on
three reform models. New York: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation.

Wehlage, G. G. (1989). Dropping out: can schools be expected to prevent it? In L. Weis, E.
Farrar, and H. G. Petrie (Eds.), Dropouts from school: issues, dilemmas, and solutions.
Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.