Texas Schools find Individual Attention Paramount to Dropout Recovery
January 11, 2010 – 
While the Attendance Improvement Management (AIM) Program typically deals with truancy reduction and dropout prevention rather than recovery, the tools used to engage students and keep them on track are nearly the same. In both cases, experts say that success is tied to individual attention.
“Whenever we pay individual attention to students, the levels of success are dramatically higher,” Robert Sanborn, president of Children At Risk, a Houston-based nonprofit research and advocacy group told the Houston Chronicle.
In addition to personal attention, computer-based classes and career counseling are two programs that proved to be successful in the 2008 Texas Dropout Recovery Pilot Program, while child care, night classes, and financial incentives were not as effective. Even though the program saw some success, only 20% of the high school dropouts in the state-funded program graduated within a year.
Much of the AIM program’s success can be tied to the individual coaching that is received several nights per week during the entire length of the students program, providing the student with individualized and consistent contact with a trained counselor. AIM’s GPS tracking is the second half of the equation, which provides students accountability for their actions. Alone, the two approaches lack effectiveness – but combining the two has proven results.
Everyone should be concerned with the graduation rates in Texas – since the state estimates that each dropout costs society and extra $70,000 in welfare, health, and criminal activity over a lifetime.
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