Document Type
Focus Area Four
Abstract
Current trends in education find us looking at the problems associated with students we deem at risk of dropping out of school. We have introduced the term "students (or children) at risk" into the educational vocabulary. For our purposes, students at risk will be defined in accordance with the Iowa Department of Education definition, as any student in jeopardy of not completing a high school education and becoming a productive worker. These students include potential dropouts who may be learning disabled, teen parents, youth offenders, academically low achievers, economically deprived children, children of abuse, physically disabled, emotionally or physically traumatized, drug abusers, and children with language barriers (DPI, 1988). The two major reasons students drop out or fail to complete a high school education are low self-image and family influences (William Gladden Foundation, 1989).
One of the family influences having a definite bearing on school completion is high mobility and frequent transferring from school to school. Family mobility has become the norm in the 1980s and 1990s. There are many causes for this recent expansion of family mobility. Corporations often expect employees to pick up and move, family and all, at a moment's notice. Divorce, remarriage, blended families and abuse all may cause instability, which in turn may cause families to move from district to district. Families may also see moving as an answer to escaping legal or school problems.
Journal Title
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series
Volume
2
Issue
1
First Page
101
Last Page
104
Publisher
Institute for Educational Leadership, University of Northern Iowa
City
Cedar Falls, IA
Copyright
©1991 Institute for Educational Leadership, College of Education, and University of Northern Iowa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Barbara
(1991)
"Focus Area Four: Providing Continuity of Service for Highly Mobile Children and Families [B. Johnson],"
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series: Vol. 2:
No.
1, Article 24.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/iel_monographs/vol2/iss1/24
