Technology Paved the Road for Students in a High-School Dropout Recovery Program to an Online College Class

Although there are Federal programs that are intended to assist a wide range of people with getting a college education, the educational attainment statistics confirm that these programs are not reaching the students who are the least apt to go to college. This chapter describes how technology enabled 52 inner-city high school students, 49% of whom had cumulative high school grade point averages (GPA) that were between 1.0 and 1.9 points, to be dually enrolled in an online college class and their online high school classes. The class average for the quizzes the students completed was 88% and the students who took the final exam scored, on average, 86%. There were some unexpected delays and difficulties along the way, but the students performed at a college level in a difficult class.

Self-Directed Learning Facilitation among At-Risk Adult High School Learners

Surprisingly little adult educational research speaks to technologically based learning strategies that support the self-directed learning facilitation of at-risk adults in a daytime high school (dropout-recovery) setting. This chapter investigates the question of whether technology is a key tool for the facilitation of self-directed learning with at-risk adults to support education stakeholders of dropout-recovery schools who seek ways to improve upon the lives of adults who could not manage the traditional high school curriculum. Current research discussing technology as a learning tool has too broad of an educational context and possesses valid and weak points. At times, the literature may be of little use to specific stakeholders in the field of adult learning. The purpose of this chapter is to appraise technological trends in adult education for the facilitation of self-directed learning among at-risk adults in high school. Moreover, the purpose of the chapter is to draw upon these trends within educational contexts to offer new practical insights into fostering best adult educational practice. This chapter examines self-directed learning in the adult high school context, reviews technology as a tool for at-risk adult self-directed learning, and appraises online learning and video gaming as technological tools for the self-directed learning of at-risk adult students in dropout-recovery schools. Ultimately, this chapter provides a new frame of reference for stakeholders who want to implement technology as a learning tool for at-risk adult populations attaining a high school diploma.

The Societal Benefits and Costs of School Dropout Recovery

This article reports an analysis of the societal benefits and costs of recovering school dropouts. Successful recovery is defined by subsequent graduation from high school. The analysis is based on established estimates of the societal costs of dropping out including reduced government tax collections and higher social costs of welfare, healthcare, and crime. These potential costs are cast as benefits when a dropout is recovered. A large dropout recovery program provides the setting for the analysis. Rigorous attention is given to accurate estimation of the number of students who would not have graduated without the program in the year assessed and to the induced public costs of their continued education. Estimated benefits are weighed against the total annual public costs of the program, which operates in 65 school centers and commands an annual budget of about $70 million. The estimated benefit-cost ratio for this program is 3 to 1, a figure comparable to benefit-cost ratio estimates reported in studies of dropout prevention. The sensitivity of this conclusion to specific assumptions within the analysis is discussed.