SMART TIP:

According to the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition, programs that have been designed to prevent dropout vary widely. Based on an integrative review of effective interventions designed to address dropout (and associated variables) described in the professional literature, Lehr et al. (2003) found that most of these interventions could be categorized according to the following types.

1. Personal/affective (e.g., retreats designed to enhance self-esteem, regularly scheduled classroom-based discussion, individual counseling, participation in an interpersonal relations class);

2. Academic (e.g., provision of special academic courses, individualized methods of instruction, tutoring);

3. Family outreach (e.g., strategies that include increased feedback to parents or home visits);

4. School structure (e.g., implementation of school within a school, re-definition of the role of the homeroom teacher, reducing class size, creation of an alternative school); and

5. Work related (e.g., vocational training, participation in volunteer or service programs).