Transferring High Schools: An Alternative to Dropping out?

The study reported here investigated a hypothesized continuum of school behavior in response to alienation and disengagement, whereby school transfer may be considered as an alternative to dropping out. Using data from the base year and first follow-up of High School and Beyond to compare students who stayed in the same high school for the last two years (1980-1982) to two other groups--students who transferred and those who dropped out--we found evidence to support this continuum. In comparisons of operational differences between public and Catholic school students, measures of risk and truancy predicted not only dropout behavior, but also transfer behavior in both sectors. Previous reports of very low dropout rates in Catholic schools (compared to public schools) may thus be partly explained by higher transfer rates from Catholic to public schools. These results suggest that an option of "dropping down" may reduce dropping out by providing an alternative educational environment for disaffected students.