The Standard Deviants University of California, Riverside *We would like to thank the Southern California Academic Center of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Math Achievement  U.S. ranked 24 th in math scores across 29 nations  Math achievement scores have been linked to  Adult wages  Subsequent educational attainment  Problem behaviors  Dropping out 26. Italy 27. Greece 28. Turkey 29. Mexico 21. Poland 22. Hungary 23. Spain 24. United States 25. Portugal

High School Dropout  Dropout Rates  In California, the statewide dropout rate is 20.1%.  For the Los Angeles Unified School District, the dropout rate was 34.9%.  Dropping has been linked to  Lower income level  Poor health  Higher risk for unemployment  Prison and death row

Ecological Framework Individual: School Enjoyment Importance of Grades Individual

Ecological Framework Peer: Peer Values Peer Dropout Individual Peer

Ecological Framework School: School Climate Individual Peer School

Research Questions  Do individual, peer, and school factors have an influence on math achievement and high school dropout?  Each of the factors will be related to math achievement and high school dropout

Research Questions  Which factor has the strongest effect on math achievement and high school dropout?  Proximal factors will have stronger effects on the outcomes than distal factors

Data  Educational Longitudinal Study 2002  Nationally represented longitudinal study  Base year: 10 th grade  Follow-up year: 12 th grade  Multilevel study

Participants  N = 6988  Gender  Females: 53%  Males: 47%  Ethnicity  Asian American: 11%  African American: 9%  Latino: 12%  European American: 68%

Measures

Individual Factors  School Enjoyment  How much do you like school?  Importance of Grades  How important are good grades to you?

Peer Factors  Peer Values  Among your close friends, how important is: Attending classes regularly, studying, getting good grades, finishing high school, continuing their education past high school  Alpha =.84  Peer Dropout  Altogether, how many of your close friends have dropped out of high school before graduating

School Factor  School Climate  14 item scale  Alpha =.77  Example items: Students get along well with teachers, There is real school spirit, Teachers are interested in students

Outcomes  Math Achievement  Cognitive Test  Dropout  Ever drop out of school?

Results

Math Achievement

High School Dropout

Building an Ecology of School Success  Primary Prevention  Same factors influence multiple outcomes  General prevention program  Secondary Prevention  Target peer influence