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Preventing the Dropout Phenomenon With the Ministry of Education
Impoverishment, experimentation with drugs, severe lack of
self-confidence... Any of these could spark a growing trend called disengagement: youth who still attend an educational framework, but are often absent, have poor scholastic achievements, feel alienated from their school and the learning process, and have behavior and social problems at school. This phenomenon is especially worrisome among immigrant youth: 9% of Ethiopian-Israeli youth miss school three times a month, and a full 15% of Caucasus-Israeli youth miss school at least four times a month. For youth from the former Soviet Union, up to 22% do not attend school once a week or more.
The JDC-Brookdale Center for Children and Youth brought this growing problem to the forefront after the publication of its study School Dropouts and Disengagement (Cohen-Navot, Ellenbogen-Frankovits, Reinfeld June 2001). The study strongly recommended that a comprehensive outlook of students' needs be adopted, and that the students' emotional and social status be taken into account. Most important, the study called for the establishment of preventive programs in schools to address the needs of weaker pupils-at-risk. Seemingly clear, schools in Israel are simply not carrying this out effectively. In response, JDC and the Ministry of Education teamed together to implement Ogen ("Anchor"): Preventing Dropout of Immigrant Students, a pilot program developed by JDC's Youth and Education Division. The program will identify immigrant students who are at risk of dropping out but who have not yet done so; it will raise red flags and identify children who are dealing with a crisis which is affecting their functioning at school; and it will increase awareness among teachers, counselors, principals and other school staff of the individual student's exceptional needs, of which they otherwise would not be aware. Ogen will train a coordinator - a senior staff member - in each participating school, to identify and work with potential dropouts, in order to develop an individual plan designed to empower and emphasize the strengths of the student, while involving relevant school staff. The activities will take place inside the classroom and the program will be discreet, to ensure that there is no stigma attached. Initially to be implemented in twelve junior high schools, the Ministry of Education expects to expand the program to forty schools within two years. This full partnership and commitment is a clear statement of the Ministry's confidence in JDC, and of the priority placed upon this effort in a time of diminishing government funding. |
