The Effectiveness of a Solution-Focused, Public Alternative School for Dropout Prevention and Retrieval

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a solution-focused, alternative school in preventing students from dropping out of high school. A quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest group design was used with 85 students to examine differences in credits earned, attendance, and graduation rates. Follow-up data on students in the experimental group were also obtained to track their postsecondary education decisions. Results showed students in the experimental group earned significantly more credits over time than students from the comparison group. More than half of the experimental group had entered a postgraduate education program after graduating from the solution-focused alternative school (SFAS). Conversely, students in the comparison group had higher attendance and graduation rates, but this outcome was found to be related to the differences in the two programs' attendance and graduation policies.The SFAS appears to show promise as an intervention for reducing dropout rates for at-risk adolescents and enabling them to earn high school credits and graduate from high school over time.