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"Children are not born to become dropouts, but they can be born into at-risk situations which can eventually open the door."

The decision to drop out is not made overnight. It is a long and arduous journey of feeling left out, tuned out, forced out...and the most singular impact on students is for them to believe teachers and other school personnel care about them.

(based on studies by Franklin P. Schargel and Jay Smink, National Dropout Prevention Center, Clemson University, Clemson, S.C. Strategies to Help Solve Our School Dropout Problem, EYE IN EDUCATION, 2001.

*Hot Topics in High School Reform (dropout prevention)
Links to a wide variety of resources, studies, best practices, and models

"The Silent Epidemic - Perspectives of High School Dropouts" Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Study (March 2006)

WORTH READING!!!! This study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, provides some very interesting responses from high school dropouts, as well as some surprising statistics which do not meet the norms in a 1980 study by the U.S. Department of Education.