Risk and Recovery from Course Failure in the Early Years of High School

For many urban adolescents, the transition to and early years of high school are a time of academic difficulty and increasing school disengagement. In Chicago, over 40% of ninth graders fail one or more major subjects in the first semester. This article examines patterns in the relative risk of cour...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American educational research journal 1999, Vol.36 (2), p.303-343
Main Authors: Roderick, Melissa, Camburn, Eric
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Academic Failure
Adolescents
Age Differences
Bilingual schools
Bilingual students
Chicago Public Schools IL
Educational environment
Educational research
Educational sciences
Ethnicity
High Risk Students
High School Students
High Schools
Hispanics
Junior high schools
Racial Differences
School dropouts
School work. Docimology. Guidance
Secondary schools
Success and failure
Teaching, Learning, and Human Development
Urban Schools
Urban Youth
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:For many urban adolescents, the transition to and early years of high school are a time of academic difficulty and increasing school disengagement. In Chicago, over 40% of ninth graders fail one or more major subjects in the first semester. This article examines patterns in the relative risk of course failure and recovery from failure over the first four semesters of high school in one urban school system. It examines how failure rates vary as a function of race, ethnicity, gender, age, and prior achievement and examines between-school variation in student performance. Males and Hispanic students are particularly at risk. Few students recover from grade failure, and early failure often translates into poorer later performance. Schools vary widely in rates of failure and recovery-variation that remains after adjusting for differences in schools' student body composition. Implications for further research and policy are discussed.
ISSN:0002-8312
1935-1011
DOI:10.3102/00028312036002303