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Dropout
Effectiveness
Findings
The WWC review of interventions for dropout prevention addresses student outcomes in three domains: staying in school, progressing in school, and completing school.6
Staying in school. For staying in school, the study showed statistically significant positive effects on some outcomes and no statistically significant negative effects. Larson and Rumberger (1995) reported that, at the end of the intervention (the end of ninth grade), ALAS students were significantly more likely than control students to be enrolled in school (98% compared with 83%). Two years after the intervention had ended (the end of 11th grade), a larger fraction of ALAS students than control students were enrolled in school (75% compared with 67%), but the difference was not statistically significant. For the subgroup analyzed in Gándara, Larson, Mehan, and Rumberger (1998), ALAS students were more likely than control students to be enrolled at the end of 10th grade (86% compared with 69%), but the difference was not statistically significant.
Progressing in school. For progressing in school, the study showed statistically significant positive effects on some outcomes and no statistically significant negative effects. Larson and Rumberger (1995) reported that, for students who remained in a district school (did not drop out or transfer out of district), ALAS students were more likely than control students to be on track to graduate on time at the end of ninth grade (72% compared with 53%). The difference was statistically significant. Two years after the intervention had ended, and for students who remained in a district school, more ALAS students than control students were on track to graduate on time at the end of 11th grade (33% compared with 26%), but the difference was not statistically significant. For the subgroup analyzed in Gándara et al. (1998), a statistically larger proportion of ALAS students had earned enough credits to graduate from high school on time, measured at the end of ninth grade (75% compared with 44%) and at the end of tenth grade (44% compared with 22%).
Completing school. For the subgroup analyzed in Gándara et al. (1998), ALAS students had higher graduation rates at the end of 12th grade (32% compared with 27% of the control group), but the difference was not statistically significant.7
Rating of effectiveness8
The WWC rates interventions as positive, potentially positive, mixed, no discernible effects, potentially negative, or negative. The rating of effectiveness takes into account four factors: the quality of the research design, the statistical significance9 of the findings, the size of the difference between participants in the intervention condition versus the comparison condition, and the consistency in findings across studies (see the WWC Intervention Rating Scheme).
7 Because these findings are based on a subgroup, they are not included in the rating of effectiveness.
8 Ratings are based on the results for the full sample (Larson & Rumberger, 1995) at the end of the intervention, ninth grade.
9 The level of statistical significance was reported by the study authors or, where necessary, calculated by the WWC to correct for clustering within classrooms or schools and for multiple comparisons. For an explanation, see the WWC Tutorial on Mismatch. See Technical Details of WWC-Conducted Computations for the formulas the WWC used to calculate the statistical significance. In the case of ALAS , no corrections were necessary.