The influence of selected academic, demographic, and instructional program related factors on high school student dropout rates

Students remaining in high school until they graduate has been and continues to be a critical issue in public school education. Educators and concerned federal, state and local officials are sounding the alarm to improve the graduation rate of high school students. Most of these individuals and organizations have called for a total reform of the educational system in America. The dropout problem has been attributed to a myriad of sociological, psychosocial, and environmental factors such as socioeconomic status, age, ethnicity, retention, competency test performance, lowered self esteem, classroom academic progress, and family structure.;The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Academic, Demographic, and Instructional Program Factors on the dropout rate of high school students. More specifically, the researcher was concerned with the relationship between the variables Reading/English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, gender, ethnicity, Advanced Academics, Regular Education, Special Education, Economically Disadvantaged and LEP as related to the dropout rate among high school students.;A correlational research design was employed in this investigation to collect and analyze the data. Four hundred and fifty (450) high school students were selected to participate in this empirical study. Moreover, the data was tested through the applications of the multiple correlation and standard multiple regression procedures.;Four hypotheses were tested in this investigation. Two of the four hypotheses were found to be significant---Hypotheses two and four.;Regarding hypotheses two, the variables gender and ethnicity were found to have a linear relationship with the dropout rate of high school students. Finally, hypothesis four involving the predictive power of the Academic, Demographic, and Instructional Program Factors were found to have a linear relationship to the dropout rate among high school students. Specifically, gender and regular education had independent effects on the dropout rate of high school students.;Based on the findings, it is recommended that school administrators be aware of the impact of selected Academic, Demographic, and Instructional Programs Factors on the dropout rate of high school students. An understanding of these variables can assist administrators in their attempts to implement strategies to reduce this phenomenon.