On the Front Lines of Schools: Perspectives of Teachers and Principals on the High School Dropout Problem

As a follow-up to its report three years ago on the dropout crisis in American public education, Civic Enterprises has created a new report that includes the views of teachers and administrators, perspectives missing from its first report. In their surveys and focus groups, the authors found that teachers and administrators supported measures to address the crisis, but less than one-third of teachers thought schools should expect all students to meet high academic standards, graduate with the skills for college-level work, and provide support to struggling students, and half of principals and administrators felt the same way. These attitudes have been shaped by experiences in the classroom, particularly with students who showed low skill levels and weak motivation late into high school. Placed side-by-side with results of the earlier survey, in which two-thirds of dropouts said they would have worked harder had more been demanded of them, this newer survey reveals an "expectations gap." The authors feel that none of the measures that might mitigate the drop out problem -- alternative learning communities, an expansion of college-level learning opportunities, learning connected to real-world opportunities (such as service-learning, which has been shown to increase student engagement), and early warning systems that start in elementary school -- are likely to be successful without a fundamental shift in expectations. (authors) Contents include: Educator Perspectives on the Dropout Problem, Why Students Drop Out, What Might Help Students Stay in School, Ways Forward, notes on Methodology, and a bibliography.