USING CAREER EDUCATION TO RETAIN POTENTIAL DROPOUTS.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if the successful aspects of alternative schools aimed at retaining potential high school dropouts could be conducted in the traditional school setting with similar results. The study explored the effect of career education, individual counseling and weekly progress monitoring on how long potential high school dropouts will remain in school. The experimental hypotheses were focused around the following research problems. The first question was "Does the combination of career education, individual counseling and weekly progress monitoring have a more significant effect than weekly counseling and weekly progress monitoring or just weekly monitoring." The second research question asked, "Do the previous methods of intervention significantly effect how many classes students complete." The third question was "Does career education have a more significant effect on females." The fourth question was "Does career education have a more significant effect on Mexican-American males." The research design included three groups of potential high school dropouts who were randomly assigned to three treatment levels. There were two experimental groups and one control group. The first group participated in a career education class, weekly counseling and weekly progress monitoring. The second group participated in weekly counseling and weekly progress monitoring and the control group participated in weekly progress monitoring. The dependent measures were number of days students remained in school, number of classes they were enrolled in at the end of the semester or when they withdrew and the percentage of students in each group that completed the semester. Results of an analysis of variance and Chi Square analysis revealed that career education did significantly effect retention of potential dropouts. Results of t-tests revealed that career education did not significantly increase retention of females or Mexican-American males.