Critical factors related to dropout: A retrospective analysis of middle school students with learning disabilities and emotional disturbances

The purpose of this study was to determine how early middle school students with LD and ED who were at risk for school dropout could be identified. The study addressed four questions: (a) What variable or combinations of variables best predicts group membership? (b) How early can group membership be predicted, and with which variables)? (c) Are there significant differences between LD and ED students across dependent variables and group membership? and (d) Are there significant differences between African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic students across dependent variables and group membership? Twenty-eight seventh and eighth grade students with learning disabilities and emotional disturbance from three middle schools were participants. The School Archival Records Search form was used to-collect data from students' cumulative school records. Participants were assigned to high, moderate, and low risk groups for dropout based on scores across three variables in the seventh grade: attendance, grades, and discipline referrals. A discriminant analysis and analyses of variance were used to analyze the data. Findings included: teachers' comments about discipline problems in the first grade discriminated among the three groups; ED students had more frequent and more severe discipline problems than LD students; and Caucasians, African Americans and Hispanics differed on achievement in the fourth and fifth grades, attendance in the sixth grade, and teachers' comments in third grade.