Dropouts: School’s Boring
Real-world learning could slash dropout rates
By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 4/1/2006
Those involved in the battle to prevent students from dropping out of high school are discovering that the problem lies not with disengaged teens, but with schools that no longer challenge them. In short, high school kids are checking out because they’re bored.
But the good news is that the problem can be remedied. According to a new study commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and released by the research firm Civic Enterprises, tailoring lessons to a student’s real life may be one of the best weapons in a school district’s arsenal—and media specialists are well suited to this task.
“Librarians are often able to create ways to engage students through authentic learning,” says Dawn Vaughn, immediate past president of the American Association of School Librarians and the administrator in charge of librarians at Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, CO. “You need to teach them lessons for real life, things that can apply to their lives as opposed to teaching them just to learn.”
The study, “The Silent Epidemic,” backs this idea, reporting that 47 percent of students say they left school because, frankly, it wasn’t interesting. Nearly a third of high school students don’t graduate on time; among blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans, it’s almost half.
The survey, by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, polled 467 geographically, racially, and economically diverse people ages 16 to 24 last summer and fall, using focus groups and face-to-face interviews. Surprisingly, most students didn’t drop out because they couldn’t do the work. Nearly 90 percent had passing grades when they left school, the study says.
A startling 81 percent wished for more “real-world learning,” such as teachers better explaining how education can lead to a good job. More than half of those surveyed, 57 percent, also noted that their schools didn’t feel safe enough, and only 56 percent said they could turn to someone on the school staff to discuss school-related issues or problems.
To Vaughn, this is familiar territory. Her district recently surveyed Hispanic students—a minority group at the highest risk for dropping out according to the U.S. Department of Education—who said they felt the library was the safest place in school.
“Libraries often have computer labs,” adds Vaughn. “And many students dropping out are kinesthetic learners, who need more hands-on learning rather than listening to lectures.”
Several states across the nation, including West Virginia, Indiana, New Hampshire, Colorado, and Massachusetts have legislation in the works to raise the legal age for dropping out and limit the reasons why kids can leave school. Indiana also hopes to create monitoring systems to help support students who are in danger of leaving.
“For the kinds of kids that are dropping, expectations are just not as high as for other students,” says Vaughn. “For many, it’s a case of not being challenged.”
