Academic success among students at risk for school failure.

TLDR

The study classified 1,803 low‑income minority students into resilient, nonresilient completers, and dropouts based on grades, test scores, and persistence from grade 8 to 12, then compared these groups on psychological traits and school engagement. Significant differences in engagement behaviors were found among the groups, supporting the role of engagement in academic resilience and offering guidance for interventions to improve outcomes for at‑risk students.

Abstract

A sample of 1,803 minority students from low-income homes was classified into 3 groups on the basis of grades, test scores, and persistence from grade 8 through Grade 12; the classifications were academically successfully school completers ("resilient" students), school completers with poorer academic performance (nonresilient completers), and noncompleters (dropouts). Groups were compared in terms of psychological characteristics and measures of "school engagement." Large, significant differences were found among groups on engagement behaviors, even after background and psychological characteristics were controlled statistically. The findings support the hypothesis that student engagement is an important component of academic resilience. Furthermore, they provide information for designing interventions to improve the educational prognoses of students at risk.