Reports General (140)

This paper draws on path-like mode's of student attrition developed by researchers concerned with American higher education to suggest a process modeI of dropping out of school which is applicable to secondary schools. It notes that existing research on school dropouts has been conducted largely without the guidance of such a model. Central features of the model, the academic and social systems of the school, are discussed and the influence of individual student characteristics and of activities in the larger social system are considered. Accumulated evidence on school dropouts is discussed in light of the suggested model. Ways in which this evidence tends to support the structure and central constructs of the model are explained. Four national longitudinal surveys are identified (Project Talent, Youth in Transition Survey, Survey of Youth and Labor Market Experience, and High School and Beyond Survey) and the major studie