Falling Off Track during the Transition to High School by Ruth Curran Neild

Explore Ruth Neild Curran's work as a Johns Hopkins researcher regarding the challenges students experience in high school. These barriers influence whether students bond or fail to engage in school . She has identified four concerns about which students and their families may be unaware:
 

1. student lack of orientation to be successful within a 'new level of schooling' (understanding credits, passing classes in the first term, etc.)
2. student lack of academic proficiency in core subjects (performing two grade levels below proficiency in reading and math)
3. student membership in a peer group who adopts risky behaviors (social status conflicts with pro-social behaviors)
4. bureaucratically, rather than communally organized schools and staff (the absence of 9th grade academies, the lack of consistent academic supports or access to an adult advocate)

This article fits nicely as a systems perspective of the aggregate impact of failing to address a cohort of students who are exhibiting the early warning signs for dropout and disengagement.