SCHOOL-PSYCHOLOGISTS PERCEPTIONS OF PRIORITIES FOR DEALING WITH THE DROPOUT PROBLEM

A sample of 444 (245 males and 199 females) Nationally Certified Schoo l Psychologists were surveyed to determine which causes of dropping ou t should be national priorities. A Principal Axis Factoring with oblim in rotation was conducted using the 42-item School Psychologist's Drop out Survey. The five factors which emerged were Criminal/Victimization , Different from Peer Group, School Conflict, Dysfunctional Family/Lac k of Support, and Family Responsibilities. The factors comprised of it ems with loadings of .40 or higher were added together for each factor to obtain subscale total scores for each participant. Then, for each subscale all total scores were added together and divided by 444 to ob tain an average subscale total score for the entire sample. This proce ss was followed for all five subscales. Finally, the average subscale scores were ranked to identify which causes of dropping out were viewe d by school psychologists as the most important national priority. Sch ool psychologists perceived school conflicts and dysfunctional familie s as the primary causes of dropping out that should be national priori ties. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.