Some thoughts on getting dropouts to participate in the PSO survey...
* Make sure the interviewer does not call and say "we're doing a survey." * Call and let the person know that you're calling to see how they're doing. In addition, be prepared to offer assistance with a referral or other resources if necessary. * Approximately 10% NJ dropouts re-registered in the same district the following year after dropping out. Staff that are charged with doing the study need to have access to that information. Some districts don't think to check this information. * Additional students move or transfer to another district. In this case, hopefully, the district keeps a record of a list of the students that information was requested to attend another district. * Determine if the dropout has any siblings or relative in the district. * Each district needs to identify what resources are available to them. For example, districts have used: * District Truancy Officer * Local probation officers * Home-School Parent liaisons * PTA or Parent Special Education Association * Spanish speaking interviewers assigned when necessary * Most importantly, using multiple phone numbers to attempt to contact the former student. Bob Haugh New Jersey Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs PO 500 Trenton, NJ 08625 Phone: 609 633-6431 Fax: 609 292-5558 email: [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jane Falls Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 11:35 AM To: Magee, John; PSO CofP Cc: David Test; Matthew Klare; Catherine Fowler Subject: [NPSO]: Re: Locating Dropouts Hello NPSO community, One of our colleagues, John Magee, asks a question and I am hoping some of you have suggestions for him. His question is below in blue; my response is in black. If you have strategies, please reply to the list so we can all learn from one another! Thanks so much! Jane Hello Jane, hope all is going well for you. Can you direct me toward any practices or strategies for locating dropouts in the I-14 longitudinal study process, and/or for promoting school reengagement? I have looked over some of the documents and round table discussions on the NPSO site, but cannot find any references to successful strategies. Many people say it is a problem that they need to address, but cannot yet point to specific successes. I know that some states/districts are actually using Face Book sites and Twitter networks to locate dropouts, and we recently participated a Schools Moving Up webinar on dropout reenrollment; but I am interested in specific strategies and practices that are currently producing results. If you can point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it. Have a great holiday! Thanks, John John D. Magee Consultant, Office for Exceptional Children Ohio Department of Education 25 South Front St., Mail Stop 205 Columbus, OH 43215 Office: 614-728-1115 Cell: 937-430-9360 email: [email protected] Jane's response: We have a 2007 product developed with NDPC-SD entitled "Collecting Post-School Outcome Data: Strategies for Increasing Response Rates" that offers suggestions to connect with "hard to reach students including dropouts". This is available on our website at http://www.psocenter.org/data_collection.html Scroll down to Procedures and there it is. Also, in conjunction with PACER we developed a series of Parent and Student fliers intended to be used while students are still in school to inform them about the coming PSO interviews/surveys, encouraging them to provide contact info and respond. These fliers and tips for their use are on our website: http://www.psocenter.org/data_collection.html Jane Falls, Coordinator National Post-School Outcomes Center 1268 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1268 541-346-0354 [email protected] http://www.psocenter.org Learn about NPSO products, services and events plus connect other state experts! Subscribe to our NPSO list at http://www.psocenter.org/cofp.html#email
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