Keeping High-Risk Chicano Students in School: Lessons from a Los Angeles Middle School Dropout Prevention Program.

Abstract

Achievement for Latinos through Academic Success is a unique Chicano dropout prevention program in a large Los Angeles junior high school. Program features include: (1) focus on the school's highest-risk students; (2) construction of a comprehensive cluster of research-based interventions addressing four different spheres of influence on school performance (student, teacher, school, and family); and (3) rigorous evaluation design involving true random assignment to treatment and control groups and extensive cost effectiveness evaluation. Subjects entered grade 7 in 1990 and included 102 very high-risk students and all learning disabled and severely emotionally disturbed students. Interventions provided to treatment groups were: (1) counseling that included training in problem solving; (2) frequent teacher feedback to students and parents; (3) close monitoring of attendance; (4) extracurricular activities to decrease student alienation; and (5) parent training and participation in school and literacy activities. Two years into the 3-year project, preliminary outcomes suggest program success in improving attrition, attendance, and grades for treatment groups relative to controls. Cost per student per year was an estimated $500. Contrary to an initial assumption that the project would simply augment traditional school programs, project staff discovered the need to mitigate and remediate the negative and damaging effects of school culture on student learning and attitudes. Advocacy and brokerage functions were expanded, and project staff developed methods to bridge three cultural boundaries: those of school culture, student culture, and Chicano culture. Contains 65 references. (SV) Keeping High-Risk Chicano Students in School: Lessons from a Los Angeles Middle School Dropout Prevention Program Russell W. Rumberger Katherine A. Larson University of California, Santa Barbara Revised September 1992 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement 7EDUC 6y IONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) r This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating a .r.' Minor changes hove been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Paper prepared for the volume, Educational Reforms for At-Risk Students, edited by Robert J. Rossi, and presented at a conference of the same name held in San Francisco, April 24-25. The volume and conference are sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education; American Institutes for Research (AIR); and the Center for Research on Effective Schooling for Disadvantaged Students; Johns Hopkins University. The project reported in this paper is being supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs; the University of California Presidential Grants for School Improvement; and the University of California Linguistic Minority Research Project.