Dropping out of high school: Students' perspectives

• Main Author: Seppala, Mary F
• Language: ENG
• Published: ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst 2000
• Subjects: Educational sociology|Academic guidance counseling
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9978551

In an attempt to understand the meaning of dropping out of high school from former students' perspectives, this study investigates dropouts from a single high school. Data, collected during 1999, is drawn from in-depth interviews with twelve students who left high school and from observations of their former high school and community. Six aspects of the participants' lives were examined in hopes of recognizing themes common to the dropout experience. Participants were purposefully selected based on the absence of known risk factors such as race/ethnicity, low income status and single parent homes (which have already been well documented in dropout literature). This study hopes to contribute to an understanding of why students, who are not typically considered at-risk, drop out of high school.