On the Way Out

By the end of their first semester in high school, two 9th grade students have similar test scores and identical grades—mostly C’s, a couple of D’s, and an F. A year later, though, the difference in these two students could not be starker: One is still in school. The other has dropped out.

What happened?

Teachers are trained to watch for warning signs that their students may be at risk for dropping out. But according to studies on dropouts, factors not visible in the classroom can be the biggest predictors of whether an otherwise normal student is headed for...