STRATEGIES IN PLACE TO PREVENT DROPOUT FOR STUDENTS ATTENDING URBAN CHARTER SCHOOLS IN A MID-ATLANTIC CITY

The following literature review details the 15 Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention established by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network (NDPC/N) as effective in preventing high school dropout. The use of these strategies allows the education system to have a positive impact on the whole student. From early literacy development and family engagement to afterschool programs and career and technology education, these strategies suggest that in order to positively affect the graduation rate in the United States the education system must attempt to reach each child before they enter high school and in areas that are outside of the traditional school day. The current study analyzed available, online information about six urban charter schools in a mid-Atlantic city. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the specific programs that urban charter schools provide to support students path to graduation. This study seeks to analyze the programming currently offered at urban charter schools and categorize the programming using the 15 Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention as the framework. Results of the study demonstrate that there is enough public information available for each school to categorize their programming using the 15 Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention (Overview, 2017) as a framework. However, deficiencies in several categories indicate that the NDPC/N’s research was not used during the development of each schools’ programming.