Predictors of High School Students' Dropout: The Role of Students' School Engagement and School Climate

• In Event: Roundtable Session 40
  In Roundtable Session: An Interdisciplinary, Cross-Cultural Exploration of School Culture and Climate Factors

Abstract

This study examines how much school climate factors contribute to high school students’ dropout and investigates how individuals’ school engagement affects in the relationship between school climate and students’ school dropout. Data for this study was from the base year of the publicly available Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) and the first follow-up survey occurred in 2004 conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. Findings suggest that school engagement has a partial mediating effect on the relation of school climate to high school dropout and students’ school engagement is a more critical predictor of student dropout behaviors than the aspects of school environment.

Author

• Sookweon Min, University of Wisconsin - Madison