First National Study of Young Dropouts Finds 6.8% Leave Before the 10th Grade

By Ellen Flax

WASHINGTON--The first national study of younger dropouts shows that 6.8 percent of all 8th-grade students leave school before they reach the loth grade, new statistics gathered by the Education Department indicate.

The study, based on a nationally representative sample of nearly 25,000 10th-grade students who had been followed since the 8th grade, confirms what many in the dropout prevention field have long believed: that a substantial number of students become dropouts before...