Vol. 20, No. 2 - Spring 2004

Research update

Leaving schools behind: When students drop out

According to the Children’s Defense Fund (2002), one high school student drops out every nine seconds. That’s an astounding statistic and here are a few more dropout facts: Students most likely to drop out come from Hispanic, African-American, Native American, and low-income backgrounds; live in single-parents homes, and attend large urban schools, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (2002).

“Dropout statistics are particularly alarming because jobs that pay living wages have virtually disappeared for youth without a high school diploma,” says Sandra Christenson, professor of school psychology and Birkmaier Professor in Educational Leadership. She and colleagues have been studying school completion for more than 12 years, using a model they developed called Check & Connect.

Check & Connect is an intervention program aimed at marginalized students who have been identified as at-risk for dropping out or school failure, including youth of all ages, with and without disabilities. It is designed to improve student engagement at school and with learning through relationship building, problem solving, and persistence. It has three main components:

• a mentor who works with students and families for a minimum of two years

• regular checks on school adjustment, behavior, and educational progress of students

• timely interventions to re-establish and maintain the student’s connection to school and learning and to enhance students’ social and academic competence.

“Relationship building is the cornerstone,” Christenson says. “We have to build trust with both the student and the parents for the program to work. Another key element of the program is intervention that helps the student learn to solve problems and to cope and persist in the face of challenges.”

Engagement is a key concept for promoting successful school completion, Christenson says. Engagement, in the sense she uses it, encompasses academic behavior, student behavior, cognition (value of education, relevance to future, self-regulation), and psychological (feeling that s/he belongs at school, relationships with teachers and peers). Engagement variables are within the power of families and educators to change; schools and parents can promote school completion.

Check & Connect reduces truancy. In one study, by the end of ninth grade, 91 percent of Check & Connect students versus 70 percent of the control group had persisted in school. Of the Check & Connect group, 68 percent were on track to complete high school within five years, versus 29 percent of the control group. Also, improved attendance rates for students in elementary schools have been demonstrated.

In a recent article, Christenson wrote, “The costs associated with the present incidence of school dropout are staggering and are estimated in the billions of dollars in lost revenues, welfare, unemployment, underemployment, crime prevention and prosecution (Christenson, Sinclair, Lehr, & Hurley, 2000). Given the consequences to society and to the individual, the importance of facilitating school completion for all students is a critical concern for researchers, policymakers, and educators across the country.”

For more information: www.ici.umn.edu/checkandconnect

Kinesiology researcher pursues EXTREMEly interesting innovations

Victor Koscheyev, director of the School of Kinesiology's Laboratory for Health and Human Performance in Extreme Environments, and two students test a new spacesuit (the blue garment pictured) that may someday allow astronauts to heat only part of their spacesuits while keeping fingers warm to perform manipulations, or by cooling in case of overheating. The liquid cooling and warming garment (LCWG) fits under bulky outer spacesuits and directs heated or cooled water through coils that cover only key sections of the body. The NASA-funded project is headed by Koscheyev, a senior fellow, and co-investigator Gloria Leon, psychology professor. The group has filed for a patent on the suit which has received a certificate of recognition for creative development of a technical innovation that has helped NASA to achieve its aeronautical and space goals.

Before coming to the University of Minnesota, Koscheyev worked in the Russian space program. His laboratory supports and enhances protection and performance of people in extreme environments through interdisciplinary laboratory research.