Effectiveness

Findings

The WWC review of dropout prevention programs addresses student outcomes in three domains: staying in school, progressing in school, and completing school.

Staying in school. The Sinclair and colleagues (1998) study reported that ninth grade students enrolled in Check & Connect were significantly less likely than similar control group students to have dropped out of school at the end of the first follow-up year (corresponding to the end of the freshman year)—9% compared with 30%. The Sinclair, Christenson, & Thurlow (2005) study reported that Check & Connect students were significantly less likely to have dropped out of school at the end of the fourth follow-up year (corresponding to the senior year for students making normal progress)—39% compared with 58%.

Progressing in school. The Sinclair and colleagues (1998) study reported that students in Check & Connect earned significantly more credits toward high school completion during ninth grade than did students in the control group. The Sinclair, Christenson, & Thurlow (2005) study did not report on high school credit outcomes.

Completing school. The Sinclair, Christenson, & Thurlow (2005) study examined Check & Connect’s effect on whether students completed school “on time” (within four years of entering the ninth grade). The study indicated that there was no statistically significant or substantially important effect on on-time high school completion. At the end of the four-year follow-up period, combining receipt of high school diplomas and GED certificates, rates of on-time completion were about the same for Check & Connect and control group students—30% compared with 29%. (At this point, 31% of intervention students and 14% of control students were still enrolled in school but had not yet graduated.) Because of its short follow-up period, the Sinclair and colleagues (1998) study did not examine impacts on school completion.

Rating of effectiveness

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 significance of the findings, the size of the difference between participants in the intervention condition and comparison condition, and the consistency in findings across studies (see the WWC Intervention Rating Scheme).