Estimating the National High School Dropout Rate

High School Dropout and Teen Childbearing

In this paper I examine the relationship between high school dropout and teen childbearing. Understanding this relationship is complicated because both phenomena are likely affected by a variety of difficult to control factors. Using a panel data on aggregate dropout and fertility rates by age for all fifty states, I attempt to develop insight by instrumenting for dropout using information on s...

Marijuana use and high school dropout: the influence of unobservables.

In this study, we reconsider the relationship between heavy and persistent marijuana use and high school dropout status. Using a unique prospective panel study of over 4500 7th grade students from South Dakota who are followed through high school, we developed propensity score weights to adjust for baseline differences found to exist before marijuana initiation occurs for most students (7th gra...

Student engagement and its relationship with early high school dropout.

Although the concept of school engagement figures prominently in most school dropout theories, there has been little empirical research conducted on its nature and course and, more importantly, the association with dropout. Information on the natural development of school engagement would greatly benefit those interested in preventing student alienation during adolescence. Using a longitudinal ...

Adjusting Your Dreams ? High School Plans and Dropout Behavior 1

At the end of middle school, many low-achieving students have to abandon hope of getting into selective high-school programs, which may be a source of disengagement and eventually lead them to drop out of high school. Based on a randomized controlled trial, this paper shows that low-achievers can be helped to formulate educational objectives that fit better with their academic aptitudes, throug...

Health in Childhood and Adolescence and High School Dropout