The effects of school age parenthood on the graduation rate of alternate school students

Abstract

Graduation, the successful completion of high school, may seem unattainable to students who have failed or withdrawn from classes repeatedly. Students who have fallen far behind their peers in credits earned are considered at risk of not graduating. Often, at risk students are placed in alternative schools which, through individualized attention and courses designed for credit remediation, provide at risk students with the opportunity to graduate on time. When a student who is already designated at risk faces the additional stressor of early parenthood, logic would suggest, and indeed research demonstrates, that the student's chances of completing high school would decline. This study compares the graduation rates of alternate school seniors (or older) who are pregnant or parenting teens with those who are not. The premise of this research is that the factor of becoming a parent may, in some cases, lead to a student taking home and school responsibilities more seriously, thus increasing his/her chances for graduation. The information about the graduation rates was collected through a survey of 10 alternative schools in Wisconsin. There was an attempt to use information from schools with similar characteristics in terms of school size, school purpose', and community size. The survey collected statistics about the number of seniors (or older) students, the number of pregnant or parenting seniors, and the number of each of those groups who graduated. The information was requested for each of the past three years.