Core competencies and the prevention of school failure and early school leaving.

There is an increasing awareness that school failure and early school leaving are processes, rather than discrete events, that often co-occur and can have lasting negative effects on children's development. Most of the literature has focused on risk factors for failure and dropout rather than on the promotion of competencies that can increase youths' likelihood of successfully completing high school. This chapter applies the core competencies framework to the promotion of youths' success within the school environment. We conclude with a brief review of evidence-based prevention strategies that address the five competencies and identify avenues for future research.

[1]  C. Streeter,et al.  The effectiveness of a solution-focused, public alternative school for dropout prevention and retrieval , 2007 .

[2]  Katherine Irwin,et al.  Blueprints for Violence Prevention , 2001 .

[3]  J. Connell,et al.  Relationships matter: linking teacher support to student engagement and achievement. , 2004, The Journal of school health.

[4]  K. Dodge,et al.  Initial impact of the Fast Track prevention trial for conduct problems: I. The high-risk sample. Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. , 1999, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[5]  Charles B. Fleming,et al.  The importance of bonding to school for healthy development: findings from the Social Development Research Group. , 2004, The Journal of school health.

[6]  K. Moore,et al.  MENTORING PROGRAMS AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: A SYNTHESIS , 2002 .

[7]  Catherine P. Bradshaw,et al.  Social Cognition as a Mediator of the Influence of Family and Community Violence on Adolescent Development: Implications for Intervention , 2004, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[8]  J. Connell,et al.  Individual differences and the development of perceived control. , 1998, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development.

[9]  F. Prevatt,et al.  Dropping Out of School: A Review of Intervention Programs. , 2003 .

[10]  Damon Korb.  Responding to Problem Behavior in School: The Behavior Education Program , 2006 .

[11]  J. Sanders-Reio,et al.  The Influence of Attachment on School Completion. , 2001 .

[12]  J. Finn,et al.  Academic success among students at risk for school failure. , 1997, The Journal of applied psychology.

[13]  Philip G. Zimbardo,et al.  Prosocial Foundations of Children's Academic Achievement , 2000, Psychological science.

[14]  S. Levenstein,et al.  Long-term impact of a verbal interaction program for at-risk toddlers: An exploratory study of high school outcomes in a replication of the mother-child home program , 1998 .

[15]  Zvi Eckstein,et al.  Why Youths Drop out of High School: The Impact of Preferences , 1999 .

[16]  Jennifer Jacobs,et al.  The Process of Dropping Out of High School: A 19-Year Perspective , 1997 .

[17]  Joan M. T. Walker,et al.  Why Do Parents Become Involved? Research Findings and Implications , 2005, The Elementary School Journal.

[18]  J. Arnett.  Emerging adulthood. A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[19]  James J. Kemple,et al.  Career Academies: Impacts on Students' Engagement and Performance in High School. , 2000 .

[20]  S Harter,et al.  The development of multiple role-related selves during adolescence , 1997, Development and Psychopathology.

[21]  Catherine P. Bradshaw,et al.  The impact of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) on the organizational health of elementary schools. , 2008 .

[22]  Glen H. Elder,et al.  Adolescent Friendships as Academic Resources: The Intersection of Friendship, Race, and School Disadvantage , 2003 .

[23]  M. Gillmore,et al.  Friendship and Deviance , 1992 .

[24]  Enrico Moretti,et al.  The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports , 2001 .

[25]  S. Christenson,et al.  Addressing Student Engagement and Truancy Prevention During the Elementary School Years: A Replication Study of the Check & Connect Model , 2004 .

[26]  Anne W. Todd,et al.  A Randomized, Wait-List Controlled Effectiveness Trial Assessing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support in Elementary Schools , 2009 .

[27]  F P Rivara,et al.  Effectiveness of a violence prevention curriculum among children in elementary school. A randomized controlled trial. , 1997, JAMA.

[28]  M. Ensminger,et al.  Paths to High School Graduation or Dropout: A Longitudinal Study of a First-Grade Cohort. , 1992 .

[29]  D. Evelo.  Keeping Kids in School: Using Check & Connect for Dropout Prevention. , 1996 .

[30]  Robert Crosnoe,et al.  High School Curriculum Track and Adolescent Association with Delinquent Friends , 2002 .

[31]  R. Abbott,et al.  Preventing adolescent health-risk behaviors by strengthening protection during childhood. , 1999, Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine.

[32]  Stephen Hughes.  Attachment and Loss. Vol. I , 1969, Mental Health.

[33]  J. Nonnemaker,et al.  Promoting school connectedness: evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. , 2002, The Journal of school health.

[34]  Robert D. Abbott,et al.  Predictors of Early High School Dropout: A Test of Five Theories. , 2000 .

[35]  Allan Wigfield,et al.  Academic and Social Motivational Influences on Students' Academic Performance , 1998 .

[36]  C. Belfield,et al.  Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40 , 2005 .

[37]  U. Bronfenbrenner,et al.  The ecology of developmental processes. , 1998 .

[38]  R. Vallerand,et al.  Self-determination and persistence in a real-life setting: toward a motivational model of high school dropout. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[39]  W. Mischel,et al.  Delay of gratification in children. , 1989, Science.

[40]  Larry E. Davis,et al.  The Decision of African American Students to Complete High School : An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior , 2002 .

[41]  C. Rydell,et al.  Closing the Education Gap: Benefits and Costs , 1999 .

[42]  M. Rutter,et al.  Pathways from childhood to adult life. , 1989, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[43]  S. Jimerson,et al.  A prospective longitudinal study of high school dropouts: Examining multiple predictors across development. , 2000 .

[44]  C. McNeely,et al.  School connectedness and the transition into and out of health-risk behavior among adolescents: a comparison of social belonging and teacher support. , 2004, The Journal of school health.

[45]  D. French,et al.  School Dropout as Predicted by Peer Rejection and Antisocial Behavior , 2001 .

[46]  Anne W. Todd,et al.  Check in/ Check out: A Post-Hoc Evaluation of an Efficient, Secondary-Level Targeted Intervention for Reducing Problem Behaviors in Schools , 2007 .

[47]  G R Patterson,et al.  A developmental perspective on antisocial behavior. , 1989, The American psychologist.

[48]  W. Mischel,et al.  Self-Regulation in a Cognitive--Affective Personality System: Attentional Control in the Service of the Self , 2002 .

[49]  R. Abbott,et al.  Mediational and deviance theories of late high school failure: Process roles of structural strains, academic competence, and general versus specific problem behavior. , 2002 .

[50]  Kathleen D. Vohs,et al.  PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST DOES HIGH SELF-ESTEEM CAUSE BETTER PERFORMANCE, INTERPERSONAL SUCCESS, HAPPINESS, OR HEALTHIER LIFESTYLES? , 2022 .

[51]  Gregory J. Palardy,et al.  Does Segregation Still Matter? The Impact of Student Composition on Academic Achievement in High School , 2005, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.