Reframing school dropout as a public health issue

Nicholas Freudenberg, Jessica Ruglis, Nicholas Freudenberg, Jessica Ruglis

Abstract

Good education predicts good health, and disparities in health and in educational achievement are closely linked. Despite these connections, public health professionals rarely make reducing the number of students who drop out of school a priority, although nearly one-third of all students in the United States and half of black, Latino, and American Indian students do not graduate from high school on time. In this article, we summarize knowledge on the health benefits of high school graduation and discuss the pathways by which graduating from high school contributes to good health. We examine strategies for reducing school dropout rates with a focus on interventions that improve school completion rates by improving students' health. Finally, we recommend actions health professionals can take to reframe the school dropout rate as a public health issue and to improve school completion rates in the United States.

References

    1. Deaton A. Policy implications of the gradient of health and wealth. Health Aff (Millwood) 2002;21(2):13–30.
    1. Winkleby M, Jatulis D, Frank E, Fortmann SP. Socioeconomic status and health: how education, income, and occupation contribute to risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Am J Public Health. 1992;82(6):816–820.
    1. Cutler DM, Lleras-Muney A. Education and health: evaluating theories and evidence. NBER working paper No. W12352. National Bureau of Economic Research; Cambridge (MA): 2006. .
    1. Molla M, Madans J, Wagener D. Differentials in adult mortality and activity limitation by years of education in the United States at the end of the 1990s. Popul Dev Rev 2004;30:625–646.
    1. Lantz PM, House JS, Lepkowski JM, Williams DR, Mero RP, Chen J. Socioeconomic factors, health behaviors, and mortality: results from a nationally representative prospective study of US adults. JAMA. 1998;279(21):1703–1708.
    1. Crimmins EM, Saito Y. Trends in healthy life expectancy in the United States, 1970–1990: gender, racial, and educational differences. Soc Sci Med. 2001;52(11):1629–1641.
    1. Educational attainment in the United States: March 2002. Washington (DC): U.S. Census Bureau; [December 1, 2006. Updated November 8, 2005]. .
    1. Day J, Newburger E. The big payoff: educational attainment and synthetic estimates of work-life earnings. Current Population Reports. Washington (DC): U.S. Census Bureau; 2002.
    1. Ross C, Wu C. The links between education and health. Am Sociol Rev 1995;60:719–745.
    1. Ross CE, Mirowsky J. Explaining the social patterns of depression: control and problem solving — or support and talking? J Health Soc Behav 1989;30(2):209–219.
    1. Woolf SH, Johnson RE, Phillips RL, Philipsen M. Giving everyone the health of the educated: an examination of whether social change would save more lives than medical advances. Am J Public Health. 2007;97(4):679–683.
    1. Thrane C. Explaining educational-related inequalities in health: mediation and moderator models. Soc Sci Med. 2006;62(2):467–478.
    1. Abrams L, Haney W. Accountability and the grade 9 to 10 transition: the impact on attrition and retention rates. In: Orfield G, editor. Dropouts in America: confronting the graduation rate crisis. Cambridge (MA): Harvard Education Press; 2004. pp. 181–205.
    1. Swanson CB. Who graduates? Who doesn't? A statistical portrait of public high school graduation, class of 2001. The Urban Institute; Washington (DC): 2004. .
    1. Balfanz R, Legters NE. Locating the dropout crisis: which high schools produce the nation's dropouts? In: Orfield G, editor. Dropouts in America: confronting the graduation rate crisis. Cambridge (MA): Harvard Education Press; 2004. pp. 57–84.
    1. Rumberger RW. Why students drop out of school. In: Orfield G, editor. Dropouts in America: confronting the graduation rate crisis. Cambridge (MA): Harvard Education Press; 2004. pp. 131–156.
    1. Rosenthal B. Nonschool correlates of drop-out: an integrative review of the literature. Child Youth Serv Rev 1998;20:413–433.
    1. Ekstrom RB, Goertz ME, Pollack JM, Rock DA. Who drops out of high school and why? Findings from a national study. Teach Coll Rec 1986;87:356–373.
    1. Lehr C, Hansen A, Sinclair M, Christenson S. Moving beyond dropout towards school completion: an integrative review of data-based interventions. School Psych Rev 2003;32:342–364.
    1. National Dropout Prevention Center/Network Why students drop out. Clemson (SC): Clemson University; 2002. [June 8, 2006]. .
    1. Ensminger ME, Lamkin RP, Jacobson N. School leaving: a longitudinal perspective including neighborhood effects. Child Dev. 1996;67(5):2400–2416.
    1. Battin-Pearson S, Abbott RD, Hill KG, Catalano RF, Hawkins JD, Newcomb MD. Predictors of early high school dropout: a test of five theories. J Educ Psychol 2000;92:568–582.
    1. Rumberger RW, Thomas SL. The distribution of dropout and turnover rates among urban and suburban high schools. Sociol Educ 2000;73:39–67.
    1. Wehlage GG, Rutter RA. Dropping out: how much do schools contribute to the problem? Teach Coll Rec 1986;87:374–392.
    1. Garcia-Reid P, Reid R, Peterson N. School engagement among Latino youth in an urban middle school context: valuing the role of social support. Educ Urban Soc 2005;37:257–275.
    1. Rumberger RW, Palardy GJ. Does segregation still matter? The impact of student composition on academic achievement in high school. Teach Coll Rec 2005;107:1999–2045.
    1. Lynskey M, Hall W. The effects of adolescent cannabis use on educational attainment: a review. Addiction. 2000;95(11):1621–1630.
    1. Yamada T, Kendix M, Yamada T. The impact of alcohol consumption and marijuana use on high school graduation. Health Econ. 1996;5(1):77–92.
    1. Brindis C, Philliber S. Room to grow: improving services for pregnant and parenting teenagers in school settings. Educ Urban Soc 1998;30:242–260.
    1. Brooks-Gunn J, Guo G, Furstenberg F. Who drops out of and who continues beyond high school? A 20-year follow-up of black urban youth. J Res Adolesc 1993;3:271–294.
    1. Haynes NM. Addressing students' social and emotional needs: the role of mental health teams in schools. J Health Soc Policy. 2002;16(1-2):109–123.
    1. Fine M, Zane N. Bein' wrapped too tight: when low-income women drop out of high school. In: Weis L, Farrar E, Petrie H, editors. Dropouts from school: issues, dilemmas, and solutions. Albany (NY): State University of New York Press; 1989. pp. 23–53.
    1. Farahati F, Marcotte DE, Wilcox-Gok V. The effects of parents' psychiatric disorders on children's high school dropout. Econ Educ Rev 2003;22:167–178.
    1. Fine M. Why urban adolescents drop into and out of public high school. Teach Coll Rec 1986;87:393–409.
    1. National Research Council, Committee on Increasing High School Students' Engagement and Motivation to Learn . Engaging schools: fostering high school students' motivation to learn. Washington (DC): National Academies Press; 2004.
    1. McPartland JM, Jordan WJ. Essential components of high school dropout-prevention reforms. In: Orfield G, editor. Dropouts in America: confronting the graduation rate crisis. Cambridge (MA): Harvard Education Press; 2004. pp. 269–288.
    1. Somers C, Piliawsky M. Drop-out prevention among urban, African American adolescents: program evaluation and practical implications. Preventing School Failure 2004;48:17–22.
    1. Weis L, Farrar E, Petrie H, editors. Dropouts from school: issues, dilemmas, and solutions. Albany (NY): State University of New York Press; 1989.
    1. Kerr KA, Legters NE. Preventing dropout: use and impact of organizational reforms designed to ease the transition to high school. In: Orfield G, editor. Dropouts in America: confronting the graduation rate crisis. Cambridge (MA): Harvard Education Press; 2004. pp. 221–42.
    1. Montecel M, Cortez J, Cortez A. Dropout-prevention programs: right intent, wrong focus, and some suggestions on where to go from here. Educ Urban Soc 2004;36:169–188.
    1. Osher DM, Sandler S, Nelson CL. The best approach to safety is to fix schools and support children and staff. New Dir Youth Dev. 2001;92:127–153.
    1. Sellstrom E, Bremberg S. Is there a "school effect" on pupil outcomes? A review of multilevel studies. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2006;60(2):149–155.
    1. Coordinated school health programs. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; [July 26, 2006].
    1. Morone JA, Kilbreth EH, Langwell KM. Back to school: a health care strategy for youth. Health Aff (Millwood) 2001;20(1):122–136.
    1. Elliott L, Orr L, Watson L, Jackson A. Secondary prevention interventions for young drug users: a systematic review of the evidence. Adolescence. 2005;40(157):1–22.
    1. Silva M. The effectiveness of school-based sex education programs in the promotion of abstinent behavior: a meta-analysis. Health Educ Res. 2002;17(4):471–481.
    1. Card JJ. Teen pregnancy prevention: do any programs work? Annu Rev Public Health. 1999;20:257–285.
    1. Mytton J, DiGuiseppi C, Gough DA, Taylor RS, Logan S. School-based violence prevention programs: systematic review of secondary prevention trials. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2002;156(8):752–762.
    1. Cohen J. Social, emotional, ethical and academic education: creating a climate for learning, participation in democracy and well-being. Harv Educ Rev 2006;76:201–237.
    1. Stewart-Brown S. What is the evidence on school health promotion in improving health or preventing disease and, specifically, what is the effectiveness of the health promoting schools approach? Health Evidence Network report. Copenhagen (DK): WHO Regional Office for Europe; [June 2, 2007]. 2006.
    1. Lear JG, Issacs SL, Knickman JR, Lavizzo-Mourey R, editors. School health services and programs. Jossey-Bass; San Francisco (CA): 2006.
    1. Geierstanger SP, Amaral G, Mansour M, Walters SR. School-based health centers and academic performance: research, challenges, and recommendations. J Sch Health. 2004;74(9):347–352.
    1. Kratochwill TR, Albers CA, Shernoff ES. School-based interventions. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2004;13(4):885-903, vi-vii.
    1. Gottfredson D, Wilson D. Characteristics of effective school-based substance abuse prevention. Prev Sci. 2003;4(1):27–38.
    1. Kirby DB, Laris BA, Rolleri LA. Sex and HIV education programs: their impact on sexual behaviors of young people throughout the world. J Adolesc Health. 2007;40(3):206–217.
    1. Coren E, Barlow J. Individual and group-based parenting programmes for improving psychosocial outcomes for teenage parents and their children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2001;(3):CD002964.
    1. Mytton J, DiGuiseppi C, Gough D, Taylor R, Logan S. School-based secondary prevention programmes for preventing violence. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2006;3:CD004606.
    1. Patton GC, Bond L, Carlin JB, Thomas L, Butler H, Glover S, et al. Promoting social inclusion in schools: a group-randomized trial of effects on student health risk behavior and well-being. Am J Public Health. 2006;96(9):1582–1587.
    1. Panel on High-Risk Youth, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council . Losing generations: adolescents in high-risk settings. National Academies Press; Washington (DC): 1993.
    1. Bonny AE, Britto MT, Klostermann BK, Hornung RW, Slap GB. School disconnectedness: identifying adolescents at risk. Pediatrics. 2000;106(5):1017–1021.

Source: PubMed

Sponsors et collaborateurs

Les conditions médicales

Interventions en matière de drogue

3
S'abonner