Released November 18, 2008
CLEMSON — The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities at Clemson University will continue its work to support states to keep students with disabilities in school, thanks to a $3,499,377 grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
The five-year grant for January 2009 through December 2013 follows a five-year grant that began in 2004 and will end in December of this year.
The center helps states and local education agencies build capacity to help students with disabilities stay in school and graduate. It will focus on evidence-based dropout re-entry and recovery programs, which get students back into high school or other programs that will provide them with credential completion or vocational training and help them transition into life after high school.
“Students with disabilities are twice as likely to drop out as kids without disabilities,” said Matthew Klare, the center's program coordinator.
Klare said that students with disabilities are subject to the same dropout factors that affect all students, with additional issues due to their disabilities and the need for specially designed instruction. Excessive tardiness, low attendance, poor academic performance, behavior problems and unfriendly educational policies are among the significant factors that precipitate dropping out.
“By examining a child’s attendance record as early as in third grade it is possible to predict whether he or she is likely to drop out. By the end of eighth grade, predictions of risk of dropout based on academics, attendance and behavior are about 85 percent accurate,” Klare said.
The center has identified several strategies to help keep students with disabilities in school.
“The most effective strategies tend to be multi-pronged, incorporating academic, behavior and counseling components,” said Klare. “Also effective are providing students with self-determination and self-advocacy training as well as having a caring adult in the school with whom the student can talk.”
The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities was created in 2004 and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. It is located at the National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University on Martin Street and is directed by Loujeania Bost and Jay Smink.
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http://www.clemson.edu/newsroom/articles/2008/november/NDPCSD_grant.php5
Contacts: Matthew Klare, 864-656-1253, mklare@clemson.edu
Loujeania Bost, 864-656-6976, lbost@clemson.edu
Hannah Sykes, 864-656-2061, hsykes@clemson.edu
