INTRODUCTION

Why are Children leaving

High School

Without a Diploma

High school dropout is a major problem facing America today. In 1996, 11.1 percent of 16-to-24 year-old were no longer enrolled and have not completed high school. In this year the dropout rate was higher for Hispanic (29.4 percent) than non-Hispanic Blacks (13 percent) or non-Hispanic whites (7.3 percent) (The Information Series on Current Topics 1999). In 1997, 11.0 percent of students, between the ages of 16-to-24, dropout of high school. Again the dropout rate was higher for Hispanic (25.3 percent) than non-Hispanic Blacks (13.4 percent) or non-Hispanic White (7.6 percent) (Digest of Education Statistics 1998) gov. census link Although there was a slightly decrease in school dropout rate between the years of 1996 and 1997, America still suffer from the vast majority of students that do leave high school before receiving a high school diploma.

For many years researchers have struggle with the phenomenon of America's high school dropout problem. Questions such as, who are at risk of becoming school drop outs? What are the factors that lead up to students deciding to dropout of school? what can be done to prevent high school drop outs? to only name a few, have been addressed by researchers for years and are still a big concern among researchers today.