NDPC-SD Big IDEAs: Dropout Prevention Strategies


ISSUE CONTENTS


Big IDEA—States can strengthen their capacity to design, implement, and replicate effective dropout prevention models through collaborative partnerships, comprehensive and high-quality professional development, and focused technical assistance.

New Hampshire's APEX Model at Work

Josie D. Cortez, M.A.
Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA)

Achievement for Dropout Prevention and Excellence (APEX) is a dropout prevention model that is based on the philosophy that schools can play a significant role in lowering the dropout rate, and that all students should have the individual supports they need to succeed. APEX logoThe APEX model was first tested and implemented in 2002 as a three-year project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The model was a collaboration between the New Hampshire State Department of Education, the University of New Hampshire Institute on Disability, and the Alliance for Community Supports, Inc.

The APEX model is designed to (1) significantly reduce high school dropout rates; (2) implement a schoolwide positive behavioral system in the high schools that lowers suspension and expulsion rates; (3) provide an intensive and individualized school-to-career service to current students who have dropped out of school or to students who are considered to be at great risk of failure resulting in a significant number of those students successfully completing high school, and (4) strengthen the state education agency's capacity to implement these proven dropout prevention strategies through comprehensive and high-quality professional development and technical assistance. At its core, the New Hampshire APEX model combines two evidence-based practices: Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) and Rehabilitation for Empowerment, Natural Supports, Education and Work (RENEW). Both PBIS and RENEW are based on the belief that students who are on a path to failure will likely drop out unless their schools provide focused, organized interventions that are preventative and flexible.

PBIS focuses on teaching and supporting positive student behaviors in schools. Although PBIS has been used mostly in elementary and middle schools, some high schools have been implementing PBIS with positive results, such as significant decreases in student behavioral problems and absences. The PBIS model is based on three principles: (1) the development and implementation of PBIS is conducted by teams with stakeholder representation that uses a democratic process; (2) decisions and implementation are data driven, and (3) the mission of the school must be to promote an environment where all students are expected to succeed.

PBIS strategies include: (1) objectively analyzing the school's current behavioral incidents; (2) creating clear behavioral expectations for students; (3) developing a data collection and analysis system to be used by school teams, and (4) creating strategies for developing and teaching positive behavioral expectations through the school.

RENEW provides services for students needing the greatest support to stay in school. RENEW provides intensive individual support for students with emotional and behavioral challenges. First developed in 1996, RENEW is provided by the Alliance for Community Supports, Inc., and has shown to be particularly effective in helping students graduate high school through a community-based support system that provides educational and work opportunities. RENEW goals include high school completion, employment, individualized resource development, and achievement for students with serious emotional and behavioral disabilities. RENEW has attained an impressive 95 percent high school completion rate with the first cohort of students.

During the three years of implementation at two New Hampshire high schools, Manchester 's Central High School and Franklin High School , the APEX model has resulted in major systems changes. APEX model developers report that both high schools have: (1) re-designed and enhanced their schoolwide discipline referral systems and methods of data collection on students and discipline problems; (2) developed their schoolwide universal teams and targeted teams; (3) received more than 20 days of training by national experts in PBIS systems, data-driven decision-making, PBIS teaching strategies, and team operation; (4) have developed schoolwide behavioral expectations and rolled out the PBIS models to all of the faculty; (5) worked with RENEW at each high school and have served 74 students who would otherwise have failed or dropped out of school; (6) recruited and provided leadership training to more than 80 students on bullying or discipline issues, (7) created, with student leaders at each school, a system for collecting data on bullying issues and school climate, and (8) worked with the New Hampshire Federation of Families and the CARE-NH Systems of Care project to provide “wraparound” facilitation classes to individuals across the state.

APEX also provided intensive, individualized school-to-career case management services through RENEW to 51 students. A majority of these students have received credits required for graduation, several have graduated, and many have secured jobs or plan to enroll in college.

At Franklin High School , the annual dropout rate has gone from 16.8 percent in the 2000-01 school year to less than 3 percent in 2004-05. While the dropout rate was already decreasing before APEX implementation, the decrease continued during APEX. Franklin High School also lowered its disciplinary action rates with a 30 percent reduction in the number of student suspension days over the same time period. The cumulative dropout rate at Central High School has remained at 37 percent during this same period of implementation, but APEX developers point out that systemic change in a larger context takes longer. Another confounder is Central High School 's major construction and renovation project that has been underway during the APEX implementation period.

After three years of implementation and evaluation, the APEX model showed such promising results for students that APEX II received additional funding from the U.S. Department of Education. As with APEX, APEX II combines both strategies: PBIS and RENEW. This new funding enables developers to expand the program to 11 high schools in New Hampshire and their corresponding middle schools.

Program cost is estimated at approximately $5,100 per student over the course of a school year. Developers compare this cost to alternative educational settings that can cost $8,000, or residential placement or hospitalization that can cost a school district an average of $60,000 per student during the school year.

More information on the APEX model can be found through the following resources:

Web sites and resources include the following:

A special thanks to JoAnne Mallory for providing the APEX model information and resources.

PODCAST SERIES & TRANSCRIPT: INCREASING SCHOOL HOLDING POWER FOR ALL STUDENTS

Dr. Robeldo Montecel and a student reading

Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, Executive Director of the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA), led this teleseminar on December 8, 2005 . Hosted by the National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD), Dr. Montecel discussed how communities and schools can work together, examined which school factors are key to student success based on research and IDRA experience, and provided an example of the power of shifting from a deficit view to one of valuing youth.

About the Topic: All children are valuable; none is expendable. But the fact is U.S. high schools lose more than one third of their students before graduation, and the cumulative impact of this attrition affects every person. However, schools can increase their "holding power" by adopting and implementing programs that recognize students' inherent value, their contributions, and their potential significance to their communities and society, as a whole.

About the Podcast: This podcast, excerpted from a the teleseminar, presents a new framework for transforming schools. The series includes five podcasts with corresponding transcripts, handouts and related links. The teleseminar has been broken up into five smaller chunks by topic to better facilitate downloading.

Download the Podcasts at: www.idra.org/pods/ndpc_pods.htm

Download the full transcript (excluding the Q&A portion of the teleseminar) at:
www.dropoutprevention.org/
NDPC-SD/econnections/archives.htm

For more information about Podcasts, go to: www.idra.org/pods.htm


 
 


VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1
WINTER, 2006

Desk

WEB SEMINAR
Dropout Prevention and Youth with Disabilities: What the Research Says Really Works!

Presenter: Dr. Brian Cobb
Professor in the School of Education & Associate Dean for Research for the College of Applied Human Sciences at Colorado State University

Thursday, May 25, 2006
12:00 noon - 1:30 pm EST

FREE to the first 100 participants to register.

Register now at: cobb.on.raindance.com

Dr. Brian Cobb photo

What works in dropout prevention for youth with disabilities? How do you know for sure? Dr. Brian Cobb has used rigorous standards for scientifically-based research written, over the past two decades in the United States and other English-speaking countries around the world, to separate the 'wheat from the chaff' on this topic. In this Web Seminar, Dr. Cobb will provide us with insights from the past five years of research synthesis, examining instructional interventions that help prevent secondary-aged youth with disabilities from dropping out of school or engaging in activities that correlate highly with dropping out.  Join us to learn about the results of his work in examining reliable evidence-based practices and ways to implement them.

Please limit registration to one per organization/school district; we encourage you to invite a group to participate via LCD projection and speaker phone. Once your registration has been processed, instructions for participating and reproducible handouts will be sent to you via e-mail. Registrants may participate via a phone only option if they prefer. For more information or if you have questions, please contact dhall@edc.org .

Program Features: Q&A Session, Audio via Web or telephone, reproducible participant materials, phone-only option.

Who should attend this program: Representatives of state education agencies, school based leadership teams, classroom and special education teachers, central office and building level leadership, parent leaders, and policymakers.

Register online at http://cobb.on.raindance.com

We will also hold a follow-up online discussion for two weeks for those who wish to continue the discussion with Dr. Cobb and share ideas with colleagues from across the country.

Translating National Data into State and Local Practice: A Summary of our February 16th Teleseminar with Dr. Jose Blackorby

Dr. Jose Blackorby photo

On February 16, NDPC-SD sponsored another quarterly telephone seminar entitled, “Translating National Data into State and Local Practice.” In the 1 ½ hour audio conference, Dr. Jose Blackorby, Disability Policy Program Manager at SRI International, presented recent national data from the OSEP-funded studies Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS) and the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 (NLTS2) as they relate to the issue of school completion among students with disabilities. Both studies provide national information regarding the academic, social, and vocational development of students in all 12 federal disability categories. SEELS and NLTS2 reports contribute to the national knowledge base in a great number of content areas including student characteristics, disability profiles, instruction practices, accommodations, academic performance in reading and mathematics, student engagement, school completion, and postschool success.

Dr. Blackorby has over 20 years of experience in designing and implementing research focused on improving outcomes for students with disabilities. His presentation focused on national data and the comparison of completers and non-completers on student characteristics, academic and social outcomes, school programs, and engagement. Several of these topics were addressed from different points of view including those of parents, teachers, and students themselves. Dr. Blackorby also examined how these data can be used for program planning and implementation at the state and local levels, as well as how to access the national data online.

The teleconference attracted a large audience of over 120 representatives from 64 school districts, state departments of education, and organizations. Participants gave the program very high ratings on their evaluations. More than 92% of the evaluation respondents gave Dr. Blackorby an “excellent,” “very good,” or “good” rating and 100% of the respondents stated that they would participate in another teleseminar. Participants thought Dr. Blackorby's information and data provided helpful ideas and strategies for improving results for students with disabilities. For example, one person wrote, “Our organization will use this data/information to keep up with data studies to better serve our youth with disabilities and empower parents to advocate for their children. Also to assure that IEPs are implemented to accommodate the students' needs for a better education and success towards independence.”

Another participant wrote, “This information will be shared with our special education personnel and also to parents in our newsletter … to compel pro-active results for students … with senior staff in order to implement best practices when educating students with disabilities … in determining factors or areas to address by programs for decreasing the dropout rate … to generate hypotheses and to guide initial comparisons … to use with program planning and grant writing … and in presentation and education to the general public. It will be used to compare local data and determine what the next steps should be in addressing special needs students and dropout prevention.”

In addition, we provided a follow-up online discussion for two weeks for those who wished to continue the discussion with Dr. Blackorby and share ideas with colleagues from across the country or who missed the teleseminar and wanted an opportunity to ask Dr. Blackorby questions.

For those who missed the teleseminar, a Podcast and complete transcript of the program will be available on NDPC-SD's website in the next few weeks. We will send an announcement out when they become available.

NDCPC-SD's next teleseminar is scheduled for September, 2006. Presented by Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) and the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights ( PACER Center ), the topic will be “Parent/Family Dropout Prevention Strategies.”

In addition, we will be holding our first Web Seminar on May 25 th with Dr. Brian Cobb on the topic of "Dropout Prevention and Youth with Disabilities: What the Research Says Really Works!" More about this Web Seminar, including registration information, is included in this eNewsletter.

Please mark your calendars, and look for additional announcements about these events on NDPC-SD's website: www.dropoutprevention.org/NDPC-SD/index.htm.

2006 NDPN CRYSTAL STAR AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Nominations for the Crystal Awards of Excellence in Dropout Recovery, Intervention, & Prevention are now open. The deadline for submission is June 30, 2006. Please take the time to nominate an outstanding program or individual.

Nomination forms can be downloaded at: www.dropoutprevention.org/NDPC-SD/about/awards/awards.htm

The purpose of the National Dropout Prevention Network (NDPN) Crystal Star Awards of Excellence in Dropout Recovery, Intervention and Prevention for Students with Disabilities is to identify and bring national recognition to an outstanding dropout prevention program and individual that have made significant contributions to the advancement of the mission of the NDPN. Anyone active in the field of dropout prevention may make a nomination.

The winners of the National Dropout Prevention Network Crystal Star Awards of Excellence in Dropout Recovery, Intervention and Prevention for Students with Disabilities will be announced and the awards presented at the 18th Annual National Dropout Prevention Network Conference in San Antonio, Texas, October 22-25, 2006. The winners' names will be published in the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network Newsletter and on the NDPC-SD web site. Award winners receive complimentary lodging for one night, a one-year Network membership, and a conference registration fee waiver.

Questions should be directed to Mary Reimer via email reimer@clemson.edu or telephone (864) 656-2676.

Information about previous Crystal Star winners may be found on the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network website http://www.dropoutprevention.org/
about/awards.htm

UPCOMING EVENTS

18th Annual NDPN Conference
October 22-25, 2006
San Antonio, TX

» Registration and Call for Presenters
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Info/Invitation.aspx?e=2c33d3df-
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» Contact Us
The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD)
209 Martin Street
Clemson, SC 29631-1555
Toll Free: 866-745-5641 | TDD: 866-212-2775
Fax: 864-656-0136
Email: NDPCSD-L@clemson.edu
www.dropoutprevention.org

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IDEAs that Work: U.S. Office of Special Education Programs


The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is committed to positive results for children with disabilities. The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities is an IDEAs that Work project. Project Officer: Dr. Selete Avoke.

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Published by the National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities
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