Reducing the Dropout Rate through Career and Vocational Education

The social, economic, and political costs of the dropout problem have been well documented. According to Brown (1985), the ts in lost tax revenues and payments to welfare recipients incurred as a result of the dropout problem amount to $20 billion annually. Willis (1986) cites figures stating that, based on estimates that the lifetime earnings loss of a single male dropout is $187,000 and that of a single female dropout is $122,000, the lost lifetime earnings from a high school with a 40 percent dropout rate amounts to $3.2 billion. The shrinking entry-level labor pool (estimated to represent 16 percent of the population in 1995 as opposed to a previous level of 25 percent) is also making it increasingly difficult for business to ignore those members of this pool whom they could previously overlook--poorly motivated youth who lack fundamental literacy skills and are unacquainted with the responsibilities of the world of work (Brown, 1985).

Why do Students Drop Out?

Examining the reasons why students drop out, Willis (1986) discusses the following correlates of educational risk: family structure and poverty, race and ethnicity, language, residence, economic displacement, and gender. Indicators of educational risk, according to Willis, are student attendance, school continuation rates, academic performance, involvement in school activities, student behavior, attitudes toward school, need for employment, nature of family support, involvement in out-of-school activities, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. This does not mean, however, that dropping out is just a minority or urban problem. Noting that since 1970 the dropout rate for blacks has decreased nationally, whereas that for whites has edged up steadily, Brown (1985) prefers to categorize high risk youth as either alienated ("uninterested in or dissatisfied with the values represented by school and work" and lacking in "motivation to succeed in expected ways" (p. 9), disadvantaged and alienated, or simply disadvantaged.

What is the Role of Career and Vocational Education in Dropout Prevention?

In view of the risk factors, then, the key to reducing the dropout rate is helping youth to overcome their sense of disconnection. Miller and Imel (1987) attest that students with low motivation to attend school have shown improvement in school attendance and retention after participating in career education and that vocational students who have participated in career education are more likely to complete the vocational program they have selected. An analysis performed by Mertens, Seitz, and Cox (1982) on data obtained in 1979 and 1980 interviews with the New Youth Cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Force Behavior, confirmed that, all else being equal, the more vocational classes students took, the less likely they were to drop out of school. The relationship between vocational education and the choice to stay in school was, however, only statistically significant in grades 10 and 12 (and negative but not significant for grade 11). Furthermore, the effect was quite small in both grades 10 and 12 (Mertens, Seitz, and Cox, 1982).