Title of Product
Preventing Student Disengagement and
Keeping Students on the Graduation Path in
Urban Middle-Grades Schools: Early
Identification and Effective Interventions
Name of Author(s)
Robert Balfanz, Liza Herzog, Douglas J. Mac Iver
Name of Producer
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST
Language of the review
English
Language of the product
English
Type of product
Online Publication
Thematic Area
Identification of students’ at risk
Description of Contents
This article considers the practical, conceptual, and empirical foundations of an early identifi-
cation and intervention system for middle-grades schools to combat student disengagement and
increase graduation rates in USA cities. Many students in urban schools become disengaged at the start of the middle grades, which greatly reduces the odds that they will eventually
graduate. We use longitudinal analyses—following almost 13,000 students from 1996 until
2004—to demonstrate how four predictive indicators reflecting poor attendance, misbehavior,
and course failures in sixth grade can be used to identify 60% of the students who will not graduate from high school. Fortunately, by combining effective whole-school reforms with attendance, behavioral, and extra-help interventions, graduation rates can be substantially increased
Review
This investigation claims that the nation’s graduation rate crisis in high-poverty cities increases in the middle grades and that the challenges of the beginning of the puberty; living in distressed neighborhoods; and attending chaotic, disorganized, and inefficiently resourced characterized by high levels of teacher turnovers and vacancies all combine to promote student disengagement during the middle-school years. In addition, this research also considers the practical, conceptual and empirical foundations of an early identification and intervention system for middle-grades schools to combat student disengagement and increase graduation rates in the cities of USA. Is has been shown that many students in urban schools become disengaged at the start of the middle grades, which immensely reduces the odds that they will eventually graduate. The research is based on longitudinal analyses about 13,000 students from the time interval of 1996- 2004. According to the observations, it is possible to say that by combining effective whole-school reforms with attendance, behavioral, and extra-help interventions, the rate of graduations can be seriously increased.