Every day more than seven thousand students will drop out of school and nearly thirteen million students per year will make this decision for various reasons. (Johnson, Dodor, Woods, & Slack, 2013) These numbers are staggering. As a result of students leaving school prior to high school graduation, they are not adequately prepared for real life. Many of these high school dropouts will suffer financial woes and end up on state and federal services. Johnson, Dodor, Woods, and Slack (2013), state; the dropouts in 2006 cost taxpayers an estimated seventeen billion dollars in Medicaid and uninsured medical expenses alone over their lifetime. The dropout rate is a plague that affects nearly every region of our nation. Across our country, there are
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These programs come in many forms such as Alternative schools, after school programs, mentoring programs, and school-within-a-school programs. No matter what type of program is chosen, they are used to help at-risk students stay in school by providing them with support, relationships, attention to specific needs, developing social skills, and much more. However, I believe it is important not to wait until high school to assist these students, but instead schools should intercept them at the middle school levels. Because of the volatile nature of middle school students, schools should begin to develop and implement programs to assist these students in need. According Forest Jones, middle school students are still open to positive influences, therefore; caring adults can still make a difference in their lives. (Jones, …show more content…
Mentors can be adults that are not related to the school or they can include teacher mentors, but either way they appear to be successful. “Mentoring is time-proven strategies that can help kids of all circumstances achieve their potential”. (Herzog, 2012) By developing one-on-one relationships with responsible adults, students can receive support, counseling, friendships, and role models. Many students have developed anti-social behavior as a result of their backgrounds. Rachel Herzog explains in her report that anti-social behavior can be associated with behavioral problems, social withdrawal, peer rejection, academic struggles, and absenteeism. (Herzog, 2012) These problems are indicators of failure in
These programs come in many forms such as Alternative schools, after school programs, mentoring programs, and school-within-a-school programs. No matter what type of program is chosen, they are used to help at-risk students stay in school by providing them with support, relationships, attention to specific needs, developing social skills, and much more. However, I believe it is important not to wait until high school to assist these students, but instead schools should intercept them at the middle school levels. Because of the volatile nature of middle school students, schools should begin to develop and implement programs to assist these students in need. According Forest Jones, middle school students are still open to positive influences, therefore; caring adults can still make a difference in their lives. (Jones, …show more content…
Mentors can be adults that are not related to the school or they can include teacher mentors, but either way they appear to be successful. “Mentoring is time-proven strategies that can help kids of all circumstances achieve their potential”. (Herzog, 2012) By developing one-on-one relationships with responsible adults, students can receive support, counseling, friendships, and role models. Many students have developed anti-social behavior as a result of their backgrounds. Rachel Herzog explains in her report that anti-social behavior can be associated with behavioral problems, social withdrawal, peer rejection, academic struggles, and absenteeism. (Herzog, 2012) These problems are indicators of failure in