Black Student Dropout Behavior: Disengagement From School Rejection and Racial Discrimination

Abstract

During the past two decades national effort to provide equal educational opportunity for all young people has come under the close scrutiny of social scientists.1 Much of the research in this area, following the lead of Coleman, 2 has used standardized achievement test scores to measure school outputs and evaluate the degree to which schools were providing equal opportunity. Equally as important, a measure of equality of educational output, especially for future occupational mobility, is the school's ability to motivate students to complete their basic educational tenure. In today's society, students who drop out before completing high school often find themselves unable to climb out of the 'last hired, first fired' unskilled occupational category. One of the most replicated, central findings from research on stratification and occupational mobility3 is that the number of years of education completed is the primary determinant of occupational success; more important than