An Intensive Group Counseling Dropout Prevention Intervention: Some Cautions on Isolating At-Risk Adolescents Within High Schools

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of an intensive group counseling workshop on low-achieving high school students. Participants and controls were drawn from a pool of youngsters who had failed two or more of their classes in the previous school term. Pre- and post-measures on school performance and participation variables were probed with analyses of covariance (ANCOVA). The treatment effects were generally negative but not significant. In addition to school performances, measures of attitudes and self-perceptions were obtained using the Wisconsin Youth Survey. These scales suggest plausible explanations for the lackluster outcomes of the intervention, chiefly the substantial bonding of group members to each other and their ensuing alienation from regular school activities.