Fundamental elements of many dropout prevention programs include social-skills training, problem-solving skills training, and social-cognitive skills training provided within the school setting. According to a report from the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition, the majority of successful interventions include a personal and affective focus: enhancing self-esteem, individual counseling, participating in interpersonal relations classes.
There are clearly many factors that lead to dropping out of school, including socioeconomic background, parental values, disabilities, and stressful life events — which are difficult to control or mitigate. But some factors, such as attitudes toward school and a sense of belonging, are factors that schools can and should be able to deal with.
A sense of belonging includes levels of participation in extracurricular programs — sports, arts, music, drama, clubs. Success in these programs contributes to improved self-esteem. But, how would you know you have a talent for something, if no one had pointed that out? Talent development includes on-going, or formative, evaluation of behaviors and performance.
We think GradePad can help educational professionals document and quantify student performance — including social skills, problem-solving, cognitive skills, and interpersonal relations. GradePad has been designed to a teacher tool for on-the-spot assessment for a range of settings.