Minorities such as African Americans and Latinos are at particular risk for truancy and dropping out. Several programs in recent years have targeted them in an attempt to reduce truancy and dropout. According to Russell Rumberger, a professor of education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, one program showed promise but also points to the pitfalls of a program that is dependent solely on outside funding.

The Achievement for Latinos Through Academic Success (ALAS) program was developed as a pilot drop-out prevention program to serve the most at-risk students in a poor, predominantly Latino middle school in the Los Angeles area from 1990 to 1995. Selected students participated in the program for all three of their middle-school years. Among the interventions were: (1) remediation of the student's problem-solving skills; (2) personal recognition and bonding activities; (3) intensive attendance monitoring; (4) frequent teacher feedback to students; (5) direct instruction and modeling for parents; and (6) integration of school and home needs with community services.

The evaluation found promising results. By the end of ninth grade, the students in the comparison group who did not receive the intervention had twice the number of failed classes, were four times more likely to have excessive absences, and were twice as likely to be seriously behind in high school graduation credits as the students who participated in ALAS. However, the dramatic effects were not sustained. By the end of twelfth grade, just 32 percent of the ALAS participants and 27 percent of the comparison students had completed high school. According to Rumberger, these findings suggest that drop-out prevention at the secondary level needs to be ongoing and continue through a student's school years.

Reference:

Rumberger, R. W. (January 13, 2001). Why Students Drop Out of School and What Can Be Done. Paper prepared for the Conference, "Drop Outs in America: How Severe is the Problem? What Do We Know about Intervention and Prevention?" at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.