Table 9 Framework for School-wide Intervention Focus of Level of Intervention Specific Need Identification Need Strategy 9th Grade Reading High Freshman Academies Grade Level Transition High Adult/Peer Mentors Discipline Low Conflict Resolution School Level Attendance Medium Youth Court Bullying High Olweus Bullying Program Suspensions Medium Alternative Schools District Patterns Truancy Medium Family Court Partnerships Retentions High Review/Revise Policies Planning for Implementation Obstacles Even with the best planning, obstacles should be expected when developing an implementation plan. Moreover, some of the conditions or obstacles may not be related to the school dropout issue. In general, the potential negative obstacles tend to relate to broad areas of human experiences, cultural climates in schools, willingness of the administrators to lead the efforts, and/or capacity of the host organization to foster and promote innovations and school improvement activities. Highlighted in Part 1 of this document, numerous capacity limitations for planning and implementing improvement initiatives exist in rural school districts and their communities. The Self-Assessment of tool in Part 2 offers help to identify risk Rural-Specific Dropout Risk Factors and Capacity Limitations factors and related school and community capacity weaknesses. Also discussed previously (see Part 3), is how the strategies in the National Dropout Prevention Center database might be designated as practices for use in a rural context. Another tool, the presented in Table 10, is provided to aid Intervention Readiness Checklist, understanding and identification of the common barriers, conditions, or obstacles that can be expected in implementing a dropout prevention strategy. These must be considered in the selection of the strategy in any school or rural community context. [Note: The is included as Intervention Readiness Checklist Appendix A for easy duplication and use.] Table 10 Intervention Readiness Checklist Readiness Obstacle 1: School or district capacity for change Guiding Questions Readiness Rating
Table 9 Framework for School-wide Intervention Focus of Identification Specific Need Level of Need Intervention Strategy Grade Level 9th Grade Reading High Freshman Academies Transition High Adult/Peer Mentors School Level Discipline Low Conflict Resolution Attendance Medium Youth Court Bullying High Olweus Bullying Program District Patterns Suspensions Medium Alternative Schools Truancy Medium Family Court Partnerships Retentions High Review/Revise Policies Planning for Implementation Obstacles Even with the best planning, obstacles should be expected when developing an implementation plan. Moreover, some of the conditions or obstacles may not be related to the school dropout issue. In general, the potential negative obstacles tend to relate to broad areas of human experiences, cultural climates in schools, willingness of the administrators to lead the efforts, and/or capacity of the host organization to foster and promote innovations and school improvement activities. Highlighted in Part 1 of this document, numerous capacity limitations for planning and implementing improvement initiatives exist in rural school districts and their communities. The Self-Assessment of Rural-Specific Dropout Risk Factors and Capacity Limitations tool in Part 2 offers help to identify risk factors and related school and community capacity weaknesses. Also discussed previously (see Part 3), is how the strategies in the National Dropout Prevention Center database might be designated as practices for use in a rural context. Another tool, the Intervention Readiness Checklist, presented in Table 10, is provided to aid understanding and identification of the common barriers, conditions, or obstacles that can be expected in implementing a dropout prevention strategy. These must be considered in the selection of the strategy in any school or rural community context. [Note: The Intervention Readiness Checklist is included as Appendix A for easy duplication and use.] Table 10 Intervention Readiness Checklist Readiness Obstacle 1: School or district capacity for change Guiding Questions Readiness Rating