“To What Extent Does Poverty Affect the Chances of Graduating

High School?”

Sammy Quiroz, Lea Yorke, and Imani Rochelle

●
Background on Causes of Poverty
Number of stressors for poor vs non poor students
Elementary School Effects on High School Dropout Rate
HHS Freshman Academy
● Transition between middle school and high
school also affects graduation rate
● Students that were C students in middle
school start failing in 9th grade and never
catch up
● 9th grade most likely to be repeated
● Freshman Academy was implemented not
only to help disadvantaged students but to
encourage all other students to start their
high school experience of strong.
Goals of Husky Academy
● Increase passing rate of students from 9th to 10th grade by 10%
● The percentage of students failing one or more courses during their freshman
year will decline by 5% for each sub-group of the population
● The average GPA of freshman will increase by .25 for each sub-group of the
population
● The freshman passing rate of students who take a statewide exam will increase by
5%
● The freshman class will have 80% participation rate in extra-curricular activities
by the end of the school year
What Can Be Done?
● Healthy People 2020, a federal government initiative to improve the health of
Americans, has among its goals one to increase the averaged (high school)
freshman graduation rate from 74.9 percent in 2007-08 to 82.4 percent in 2020.
● Other schools could establish their own versions of Husky Academy to increase
success rates among incoming incoming freshman
● A governmental grant should be given to each school system to be used solely on
bettering the opportunities for economically disadvantaged students (buy school
supplies, tutoring opportunities)
Works Cited
● "Project Graduation: Latest Snapshot of High-Poverty U.S. Schools." Rss. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2015
● Rumberger, Russel. "Poverty and High School Dropouts." American Psychological Association. 13 May 2013. Web. 28 Sept.
2015
● Ehrenfreund, Max. "The States Where Poor Kids Are Most Likely to Graduate from High School." Washington Post. The
Washington Post. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
● Klein, Rebecca. "Rich Students More Likely To Graduate High School Than Poor Students, But Some States Buck The Trend."
The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.
● Dynarski, Susan. "For the Poor, the Graduation Gap Is Even Wider Than the Enrollment Gap." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 01 June 2015. Web. 30 Sept. 2015.
● "Fast Facts: Dropout Rates." National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
● "Membership." How Poverty Affects Behavior and Academic Performance. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.