RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Research Proposal

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 14

INTRODUCTION4

Background4

Problem Statement8

Purpose8

Significance of the Study10

Nature of the Study14

Internal Validity versus Credibility19

External Validity / Generalizability versus Transferability20

Reliability versus Dependability22

Objectivity versus Confirmability23

Research Questions24

Conceptual or Theoretical Framework24

Assumptions27

Scope, Limitations, and Delimitations28

Chapter Summary28

CHAPTER 230

LITERATURE REVIEW30

High school Drop out31

School Factors32

Student Factors34

Completion Rates37

Factors Affecting Students' Leaving School Early40

Gender-Based Factors/Issues40

Being Male40

Boys and Literacy42

Boys and Grade Failure/Retention43

Boys and Special Education Referrals44

Boys and Behavior44

Boys and Poverty47

Boys and Foster Care47

Boys, Peers, and Gangs48

Boys and Crime49

Boys and Child Abuse50

Boys and Suicide51

Being Female51

Ethnic Minority Status58

Family Structures59

Parents60

Speaking a First Language Other Than English62

School-Related Factors64

Expectations64

Environment65

Student-Teacher Relationships65

Educational Attainment66

Zero Tolerance/Expulsion/Discipline69

School-Community-Student Related Factors70

CHAPTER 372

RESEARCH METHODS72

Research Method and Design Appropriateness72

Population, Sampling, and Data Collection Procedures and Rationale73

Population73

Sampling74

Data Collection75

Instruments77

Interview77

Observation81

Validity - Internal and External82

Validity82

Data Analysis84

Chapter Summary86

REFERENCES87

Chapter 1

Introduction

This chapter introduces the topic of the dissertation. This chapter elaborates on the topic as well as provides the background of the issue and the rationale for carrying out the research. It emphasizes that a critical need exists for research on high school dropout that goes beyond individual student characteristics to include the influence of school factors on students' educational decisions.

Background

There is a high school dropout epidemic in America. Each year, almost one third of all public high school students - and nearly one half of all blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans - fail to graduate from public high school with their class. Many of these students abandon school with less than two years to complete their high school education. This tragic cycle has not substantially improved during the past few decades when education reform has been high on the public agenda. During this time, the public has been almost entirely unaware of the severity of the dropout problem due to inaccurate data. The consequences remain tragic. The decision to drop out is a dangerous one for the student. Dropouts are much more likely than their peers who graduate to be unemployed, living in poverty, receiving public assistance, in prison, on death row, unhealthy, divorced, and single parents with children who drop out from high school themselves. Our communities and nation also suffer from the dropout epidemic due to the loss of productive workers and the higher costs associated with increased incarceration, health care and social services. Given the clear detrimental economic and personal costs to them, why do young people drop out of high school in such large numbers? Almost every elementary and middle school student reports ambitions that include high school graduation and at least some college. Why are so many dreams cut short? And what steps should be taken to turn the tide? In an effort to better understand the lives and circumstances of students who drop out of high school and to help ground the research in the stories and reflections of the former students themselves, a series of focus groups and a survey were conducted of young people aged 16-25 who identified themselves as high school dropouts in 25 different locations throughout the United States. These interviews took place in large cities, suburbs and small towns with high dropout rates. 

NCES, the primary federal resource for U.S. dropout data, reports that national dropout rates varied slightly between 1990 and 2000. Within this 10-year span, the number of students who had not received a ...