Complete dissertation prospectus

Running head: THE RATE OF HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS IN THE US 1
The rate of high school dropouts in the US
Name
Institutional Affiliation

The rate of high school dropouts in the US
High school dropout is an issue that has been affecting the United States following the
failure of an increasing number of high school students failing to complete their studies. The
approximated number of high school dropouts per year are estimated by researchers to be
somewhere at 1.2 million (Usman, 2015). Such a figure is very high for a first world country like
the United States, which this research is founded at exploring why the statistics on the high school
dropouts are such shocking. Primarily, ethnicity and race are recognized to be the key factors that
influence the rates of high school dropouts where the rate is highest among the African Americans,
followed by the Latin Americans. These races are usually affected most by poverty, lacking
equality in the education system, gang activity, failing grades and pregnancies are all among the
common factors that are attributed towards the high rates of high school dropouts among the
African Americans and the Latinos.
Background
The issue of high school dropouts has long-term and short-term effects on the various
aspects of the United States, including its economy. Educated people take part in building the
country and different quarters, but illiteracy may increase the burden to the government, requiring
more resources to be used on these individuals. Research indicates that nonwhite people in the US
have a higher probability of failing to complete their high school studies than their white
counterparts. Indeed, Shollenberger (2015) notes that 56 percent of the African American
population drops out of high school while their Hispanic counterparts drop out at a rate of 54
percent. However, there is no single reason that motivates such a high percentage of dropouts as
they may vary widely across individuals, families, and ethnic or race. Struyk (2017) reported that

THE RATE OF HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS IN THE US 3
the chances of the African Americans living with poverty are increased by the fact that more than
a half of them believe that they are unlikely to get a job for which they qualified, which is why
they may drop out of school.
However, research by the Bureau of Statistics indicates that the high school graduates earn
more with over $9 000 compared to those who drop out of school (Breslow, 2012). Additionally,
the high school dropouts have a higher rate of unemployment annually as opposed to their graduate
counterparts. These exciting statistics makes one want to understand why the dropouts want to
expose themselves to such glaring differences that may ruin their lives. Most of the decisions that
result from the high rates of the high school dropouts arise from the high levels of poverty among
the groups in question. Poverty may lead to other factors pregnancy, drug use, academic failings,
and gang activities, all which may in return cause the dropout among the high schoolers.
Schools have been making efforts to save the learners against the high rates of dropouts for
the sake of their future. Among the strategies that most schools across the United States have
adopted include training of the teachers to identify the students who are at risk. The history of
individual students is also used to inform the level of risks that each student is likely to face through
the assessment of the living conditions of the learners as well as their age, behavior, and health.
Understanding this information will facilitate the monitoring of the students and adopting the
practices that motivate them against dropping out from studies. Students who may drop out of high
schools because of the failing grades can be assisted trough in implementing the attendance
recovery programs. Doing so acts as an opportunity for the students to go back in schools and put
extra efforts if they had encountered distractors such as lacking fees during their first attempt.

Technology is vital for the attendance recovery where students can be given opportunities to
complete their studies through the online programs without the fear of their geographical location.
Therefore, it is necessary to address this research topic because it helps illuminate the
reasons for the students’ failure to complete their studies in high school. Researching the topic will
help alienate facts from the myths and support a detailed analysis of the programs already in
practice to minimize the problem. The importance of addressing this problem in its totality is
because of the short-term and the long-term problems that it can cause to the dropout, the
community, and the country. Individuals may suffer for dropping out of high schools by
experiencing low employability, and whenever they get jobs, their pay is less by up to $9 000 from
what they would have earned if they completed their studies (Hart, 2017). This will consequently
affect the country and the community because the human resources will not be utilized optimally
towards growing the economy of the country.
Researching this topic is also essential because it can find remedies to the dropouts’
problems and lead towards improved lives among the students who would otherwise become
victims. The hardship issues that dropouts experience in securing jobs will not be exhibited
because they will secure high-paying jobs and contribute towards the wellbeing of the community
and the growth of the economy of the country. Competent and well-educated individuals are also
crucial for global competitiveness. The ability of American society to compete on a global scale
decreases due to the high rates of the high school dropouts that occur in the country annually.
Therefore, this topic is essential because it provides an exploratory opportunity for determining
where the problem is, how the problem can be detected, and the remedies that can be implemented

to resolve the issues. Researching this topic will help identify the gaps in equal education measures,
social, racial, and ethnic issues that will help in reducing the rates of dropouts significantly.
Problem statement
The problem explored in this study is the high rates of high school dropouts across the
United States. The rates of drop out are as high as 1.2 million students per year, a value that is too
high for such a developed country like the United States. Existence of such a high problem in the
US regarding the high rates of the high school dropout is alarming and an indicator that the issue
could be extreme in the developing countries. Therefore, it is essential to understand the problem
from its root causes for an effective recommendation of the appropriate strategies that would result
in a reduction or complete elimination of the problem. Some of the problems associated with the
high rates of high school dropouts include race and ethnicity, culture, poverty and factors that arise
from poverty like the gang activities, pregnancy, and failing grade among others.
McKee & Caldarella (2016) notes that the African Americans and the Hispanics are the
groups that are affected by the high rates of dropouts in high school. Although these groups have
coexisted with other diverse races in the United States, they are affected the most by the rates of
dropouts at almost equal ratios. However, the rate of African Americans is slightly higher than that
of the Hispanics at 56 percent and 54 percent, respectively. Therefore, these statistics indicate that
the rate of high school dropout affects the African Americans the most by about 2 percent of their
population. Racism is a factor that has brought substantial division across the United States.
Controversies are dominant across the diverse groups that live in the country, with the blacks being
treated unfairly as opposed to their white counterparts. Most people engage in discriminatory
allegations, stereotyping, and negative associations of the people of color. For instance, the issue

of terrorism in America is associated with the blacks, although it is known worldwide that any
person can perpetuate the vice from any race. This is an obvious illustration of how racism subjects
the people of color to unfair injustices, allegations, and treatment even in the institutions of
learning and employment.
Some studies have indicated that poverty is another factor that makes students from these
communities to exhibit high rates of dropouts in high schools (Maynard, Salas-Wright & Vaughn,
2015). Liftoff (2017) notes that there exists a strong association of the minority communities to
poverty in the United States. The country’s historical record cases of injustices to the people of
color in the educational institutions and places of employment. These factors resulted in
disadvantaging the people of color over their white counterparts in the United States, a reason that
most of them are still poor to date. Indeed, these factors can be seen in the low wages and the kind
of work that most of the people from these groups perform to date.
Students who witness the kind of jobs taken by their parents and community members or
the low levels of income they earn may get discouraged from completing their studies. Sometimes
the parents will not manage to pay for their education or meet their educational needs that enable
the student to live at the standards of their colleagues. As such, they may drop out of school due
to the lack of motivation. Poverty can also lead the victims to gang activities, pregnancy, and
acquiring the failing grades as the students try to look for alternative survival mechanisms.
These problems can affect the individual victims, society, and the country at large.
Dropouts will live a low-quality life because they will not secure good jobs without proof of
educational qualifications. Besides, their problem could be passed on to generations because they
are less likely to educate their children adequately due to the conditions under which they will be

living. There are high chances that the dropouts will cause antisocial behaviors in society.
Dropouts will be caught in such activities as the substance abuse among other vices that are not
acceptable in society (Stark & Noel, 2015). The bad behaviors that the dropouts exhibit may be
passed on to the adult life unless the behavior is tamed in time. Maryland et al. (2015) report that
failure to address the bad behavior with the dropouts may increase antisocial behavior and affect
the peace and harmony in the society. Additionally, the dropouts have little contributions towards
the economy of the country as opposed to their graduate counterparts.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study will be to explore the root cause of the high rates of dropouts
across high schools in the United States. It is essential to explore the topic as the basis of finding
the possible and effective methods of its resolution. Another purpose of the study is to find the
possible remedies to the problem so that a long-term and sustainable solution is recommended to
eliminate the problem. To accomplish these goals, the paper will examine the relationship between
poverty, racism, and ethnicity, and the high school dropouts. Past studies have indicated a strong
relationship between the high rates of high school dropouts with racism/ethnicity and poverty.
However, issues like failing grades, pregnancy, gang activity, and substance abuse are secondary
mainly because of poverty. As such, addressing the high rates of dropouts in high school will be
addressed most effectively by looking at the root causes to inform the most appropriate
recommendations that will work sustainably in resolving the issue. The paper accomplishes its
purpose by formulating various research questions across the required dimensions.
Research questions

Why is the high school dropout a problem in the United States?
The purpose of this question is to illuminate the issue of high school dropout in high schools
across the United States. The question addresses the problem in the dimensions of effects to the
individual students, the society, and the entire country. Addressing this question will indicate that
high school dropouts can affect the future level of income for a person and prosperity in their lives.
It will also show how a person can make or break their lives, depending on whether they will make
the right or wrong choice.
How is poverty related to high rates of high school dropouts?
The purpose of this research question will be to illuminate the relationship between poverty
and the rates of high school dropout. It is expected that the poor communities have the highest
rates of high school dropouts because parents in these communities cannot afford the needs of their
students at school. As a result, another problem arises because dropping out of the school deters
the student from getting a good and a well-paying job, which leads to the continuity of the poverty
trends across the affected community. The question will help to understand the poverty can cause
a high school student to look for other coping and survival mechanism like trafficking drugs and
engagement in criminal activities. It is critical to explore this question because it will reveal some
of the crucial cause of high rates of dropouts in high schools.
How is racism or ethnicity related to the high rates of high school dropouts in the United
States?
The purpose of this question is to identify the possible existence of the racial injustices in
the United States’ institutions of learning and how they affect education. Racism has a long history

in the US. The people of color are the victims of racism. As a result, they are denied equality at
the institutions of learning. Sometimes they are made to believe that they will not get jobs for
which they qualified, a factor that may cause dropouts. Detailed exploration of this research
question will help determine the most appropriate recommendations that can be offered to improve
the situation.
What are the possible remedies that can be adopted to minimize the high rates of high
school dropouts across the United States?
The purpose of this question is to explore the most effective action plan that can be
employed across high schools in the US to minimize the high rates of dropouts reported. Among
the areas that will inform the recommended course of actions are racism and poverty because they
have been identified as the leading causes. The researcher will narrow down to the specific aspects
of each cause and provide a particular action that the various stakeholders should undertake in
making the situation right. High school dropout is a serious issue that should not be allowed to
continue because it affects both the dropouts, the society, and the country at large. A recommended
cause of action should be evaluated and implemented to cease further continuity of the issue.
Research methods and design
This research will be carried out qualitatively to explore the issues of high school dropouts
in the United States. The primary method adopted in the study is the literature search and analysis
of the secondary data. The study design will involve a systematic literature review on the selected
topic for the research. The primary motive of using the systematic literature review in
accomplishing this study is to give the researcher an opportunity of exploring the opinions of the

experts and the scholars in the field of high school dropouts and the reasons that such rates affect
the people of color. Besides, the systematic literature review will help in accomplishing the
research much easier and at little costs as opposed to the situation where the research would have
opted for primary data collection methods. The study will focus on high school students. It will
narrow down to the people of color, given that they are the ones affected by the issue pf the drop
out at the highest rates than their white counterparts.
Studies on the high school dropouts will be accessed from both the Federal and the state
level education agencies, and research papers completed on the Federal Bureau of Statistics. Data
will also be accessed and collected from Education Full Text, Academic Research Ultimate,
EBSCO, and other governmental databases. While searching the relevant research papers and
journal articles, the researcher will use such keywords like “high school dropouts,” “high school
dropouts in the US,” “high rates of school dropouts” and “causes of high school dropouts” among
others. Studies published not later that year 2014 will be selected from across the various databases
that will have been selected. The researcher will avoid using the older sources to ensure they get
information on the most recent trends and issues reported with the high school dropouts. Doing so
will help retain relevance and avoidance of factors that are no longer influential to the high school
dropout. The researcher will then skim through the abstract of the selected materials to ascertain
their relevance to the goals and the objectives of the research. Sources that do not relate or appear
to answer any of the research questions in the context of the high school dropout will also be
eliminated for further use in the study.
Therefore, the sample research papers will be diverse and carried out based on the studies
accessed for the systematic literature review. The research will ensure that they focus on the

experts who have handled the issue of high school dropouts and are well conversant with the
various factors that come to play. Therefore, the experts’ point of view will be used as the setting
for the study because they handle the cases of dropouts and them possess an in-depth understanding
of the major as well as the minor forces that come into play. Besides, they are in the best position
to recommend the best course of action, given that they are actively involved in the field over a
long time.
Another strategy that the researcher will employ is a snowballing technique. Creswell &
Creswell (2017) notes that snowballing is an effective strategy that employs cross-referencing to
find credible studies. From a small number of studies, the research may rely on the references of
these narrow studies to find more credible studies. Specifically, the researcher will be interested
in finding those studies that have been cross-referenced. The reason for complementing the
research will snowballing will be to ensure that as many references as possible are obtained and
utilized. Creswell & Creswell (2017) indicates that the sample size for systematic studies should
not be limited so long as studies being utilized are the most recent.
After accessing all the relevant resources for use in the research in the various databases,
the analysis will be carried out. The researcher will rely on a systematic review tool. Cochrane
provides a variety of these tools, such as the Covidence systematic review management program
(Covidence, n.d). The analysis of the data will be done thematically, seeking to outline the causes
of the main factors that attribute to the high rates of dropouts in high schools and the trends across
the poor communities and the people of color. Completing this study will result in an
understanding of the underlying problems and brainstorming the possible remedies that
educational institutions and the government can adopt to rectify the problem. Recommendations

from this study will seek to enhance student retention in high school, regardless of their race or
social status.
Conclusion
A qualitative study on the high school dropouts across the United States is carried out to
help understand the issue and factors that have resulted in its high rates of occurrence. The research
identified the African American and the Hispanics are the most victimized by the issue with their
rates of dropouts exceeding 50 percent. Overall, the number of high school dropouts per year are
estimated by researchers to be somewhere at 1.2 million High school dropouts has long-term and
short-term effects on the various aspects of the United States, the community and the individuals
who do not complete their studies. The nonwhite people in the US have a higher probability of
failing to complete their high school studies than their white counterparts. Completing this study
helps to understand the underlying problems and to brainstorm the possible remedies that
educational institutions and the government can adopt to rectify the problem. Recommendations
from this study enhance student retention in high school, regardless of their race or social status.

References
Breslow, J. M. (2012, September 21). By the Numbers: Dropping Out of High School. Retrieved
from PBS: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/by-the-...
Covidence: World-class systematic review management. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.covidence.org/home
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed
Methods Approaches. Sage publications.
Hart, L. (2017). What Has Been Done to Stop High School Dropouts? Retrieved August 10, 2019,
from https://www.theclassroom.com/done-stop-high-school-dropouts-11863.html
Liftoff, L. (2017, January 23). Why Kids Drop out of High School and How to Prevent It. Retrieved
from Learning Lift Off: https://www.learningliftoff.com/why-kids-drop-out-...
Maynard, B. R., Salas-Wright, C. P., & Vaughn, M. G. (2015). High school dropouts in emerging
adulthood: Substance use, mental health problems, and crime. Community mental health
journal, 51(3), 289-299
McKee, M. T., & Caldarella, P. (2016). Middle school predictors of high school performance: A
case study of dropout risk indicators. Education, 136(4), 515-529.
Shollenberger, T. L. (2015). Racial disparities in school suspension and subsequent outcomes.
Closing the school discipline gap: Equitable remedies for excessive exclusion, 31-44.

Stark, P., & Noel, A. M. (2015). Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the
United States: 1972-2012. Compendium Report. NCES 2015-015. National Center for
Education
Struyk, R. (2017, August 18). Blacks and whites see racism in the United States very, very
differently. Retrieved from CNN Politics:
https://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/16/politics/blacks
Usman, S. (2015). Dropping Out, Challenges, and Solutions | TRENDS. Retrieved August 10,
2019, from http://trendsinstitution.org

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