Dropping Out of High School: The Role of School Organization and Structure

By V. Lee, David T. Burkam. 2003

799 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this study, we explore how high schools, through their structures and organization, may influence students’ decisions to stay in school or drop out. Traditional explanations for dropout behavior have focused on students’ social background and academic behaviors. What high schools might do to push out or hold students has received less empirical scrutiny. Using a sample of 3,840 students in 190 urban and suburban high schools from the High School Effectiveness Supplement of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, we apply multilevel methods to explore schools’ influence on dropping out, taking into account students’ academic and social background. Our findings center on schools’ curriculum, size, and social relations. In schools that offer mainly academic courses and few nonacademic courses, students are less likely to drop out. Similarly, students in schools enrolling fewer than 1,500 students more often stay in school. Most important, students are less likely to drop out of high schools where relationships between teachers and students are positive. The impact of positive relations, however, is contingent on the organizational and structural characteristics of high schools.

Subfields: Education

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cb18f6c0af1c52b9abcf3903e700badddfd98bb0

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Citations in the corpus

Understanding student behavioral engagement: Importance of student interaction with peers and teachers (2018, background): “This decline in student motivation is noteworthy given the large body of research that emphasizes academic and social engagement as key predictors of high school success, including achievement and dropping out (Lee & Burkam, 2003; Rumberger, 2011; Wang & Holcombe, 2010; Wigfield et al., 2006).”
Predictors of educational attainment in the Chicago Longitudinal Study. (2008, background): “The types of high school youth attend are associated with high school graduation (Bryk & Thum, 1989; Lee & Burkam, 2003; Toles, Schulz, & Rice, 1986).”
A Review of Empirical Evidence About School Size Effects: A Policy Perspective (2009, methodology): “The earliest of these studies was by Lee and Smith (1995). This study, based on the U.S. High School and Beyond database, examined the effects of school size on a host of outcomes including student engagement in school. An 18-item survey scale was used as the measure of engagement. These items asked”
Police Officers in Schools: Effects on School Crime and the Processing of Offending Behaviors (2013, background): “And as youths fall farther behind grade, they become much less likely to graduate (Alexander, Entwisle, & Horsey, 1997; Entwisle, Alexander, & Olson, 1997; Jimerson et al., 2006; Lee & Burkam, 2003).”
The Shapeless River: Does a Lack of Structure Inhibit Students' Progress at Community Colleges? CCRC Working Paper No. 25. Assessment of Evidence Series. (2011, methodology): “Closer to the notion of academic program coherence as a well-specified course of study is the “constrained curriculum” concept used by Lee and Burkam (2003) in their study of the effect of high school organization and structure on student dropout rates.”
An Interdisciplinary Model of School Absenteeism in Youth to Inform Professional Practice and Public Policy (2008, background): “School dropout is also less likely for smaller schools with more challenging courses, positive student–teacher relationships, and grade promotion (Jimerson et al. 2002; Lee and Burkham 2003).”
School Climate: a Review of the Construct, Measurement, and Impact on Student Outcomes (2015, background): “Smaller school sizes, for example, may increase student engagement indirectly by facilitating a greater sense of school community and more positive interactions between students and teachers (Crosnoe et al. 2004; Finn and Voelkl 1993; Lee and Burkam 2003; Weiss et al. 2010).”
Longitudinal Attendance Patterns: Developing High School Dropouts (2012, background): “Children engage in avoidance tactics to remove themselves from activities where they perceive themselves as having a low likelihood of success (Kazdin 1993 ; Simmons and Blyth 1987 ); in effect disengaging from school exhibited by low school attendance patterns.”
A Critical Review of the Literature on School Dropout (2013, background): “Other scholars have suggested increased personalization (Balfanz and Legters, 2004; Blue and Cook, 2004; Lee and Burkam, 2003) and technological orientation (Pittman, 1993) in teaching.”
The grit effect: predicting retention in the military, the workplace, school and marriage (2013, background): “Graduation is also strongly predicted by situational factors, including school safety (DeLuca and Rosenbaum, 2000), teacher support (Catterall, 1998; Croninger and Lee, 2001; Lee and Burkam, 2003; Brewster and Bowen, 2004), parental support (McNeal, 1999), and peer support (Kasen et al., 1998).”
Charter, Private, Public Schools and Academic Achievement: New Evidence from NAEP Mathematics Data (2006, neutral): “See, for instance, work by Lee and associates ( Lee & Burkam, 2003; Lee et al., 1998).”