Abstract
Reducing student dropout from school is one of the most important challenges faced by the education system. This study examines the effectiveness of a Local Authority Information Center (LAIC) that was developed in Israel to help prevent this phenomenon. The research population embraced 418 regular attendance officers (RAOs), educators dealing with students dropping out and with those who at risk of dropping out. The RAOs were divided into an experimental group, that executed its work using the LAIC, and a control group that accomplished its work manually. The research findings show that the use of an LAIC system reduced the dropout rate and raised the number of students studying to the school’s satisfaction. This improvement even intensified 3 years later when the size of the experimental group was increased. The RAOs in the experimental group employ most of the LAIC’s facilities and they present positive attitudes towards the LAIC’s contribution to their work. The LAIC system seems to have a real and direct impact on reducing dropping out.
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Appendix Questions relating to the place of the LAIC in the RAOs’ work, according to their classification into dimensions
Appendix Questions relating to the place of the LAIC in the RAOs’ work, according to their classification into dimensions
Question no. | Question | The dimension |
Q2 | To what extent is the LAIC system friendly and its operation easy and convenient? | LAIC contribution to RAOs’ work |
Q3 | To what extent does the LAIC system meet your needs as an RAO? | |
Q4 | To what extent do you control the LAIC operation? | |
Q5 | To what extent does the use of the LAIC increase your control and monitoring of the students at risk of dropping out? | |
Q13 | To what extent does the use of the LAIC enable you to increase the number of students at risk of dropping out treated by you? | |
Q15 | To what extent does the use of the LAIC simplify/shorten the process of your locating and reporting on students “lacking current learning status”? | |
Q26 | To what extent does the use of the LAIC help you to locate students at risk of dropping out in real time? | |
Q30 | To what extent does the use of the LAIC improve the quality of the data reported on the students at risk of dropping out who are in your care | |
Q1 | To what extent do you use the LAIC system in your work? | Extent of RAO’s use of LAIC components |
Q6 | To what extent do you use the “entire student body” model and the “students under the RAO’s treatment model” in the LAIC system? | |
Q7 | To what extent do you use the “student location” model in the LAIC system? | |
Q9 | To what extent do you use existing fixed reports existing in the LAIC? | |
Q10 | To what extent are the data in the LAIC system useful in your work with the diverse factors in the authority? | |
Q11 | To what extent do you use the “report generator” in the LAIC system? | |
Q12 | To what extent do you use the direct mail in the LAIC system? | |
Q14 | To what extent do you use interfaces from the Ministry of Education that are part of the LAIC? | |
Q24 | To what extent are the instructions sent to you from the project administration clear to you? | |
Q28 | To what extent did the pedagogic instruction you received meet your work needs? | Pedagogic instruction |
Q29 | To what extent did the pedagogic instruction you received help you in your ongoing work? | |
Q17 | To what extent do your requests of the LAIC support center receive a suitable answer? | Instruction and technical support |
Q18 | To what extent do you produce reports from the LAIC system for inter-disciplinary discussions of students at risk of dropping out? | |
Q19 | To what extent do you receive individual instruction on the LAIC system? | |
Q20 | To what extent does the instruction you receive help you to use the LAIC system? | |
Q21 | To what extent does the instruction you received meet your work needs as an RAO? | |
Q8 | To what extent do you need the support services? | Found not to belong to any of the four dimensions |
Q16 | To what extent do you fear using the LAIC system in your work? | |
Q22 | To what extent do you need further individual instruction on the LAIC system? | |
Q23 | To what extent do you address questions to the project administration in Jerusalem? | |
Q25 | To what extent do your questions addressed to the project administration receive an answer? | |
Q27 | To what extent did you receive pedagogic instruction from the RAO guide? |
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Aflalo, E., Gabay, E. An information system for dropout prevention. Educ Inf Technol 17, 233–250 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-011-9156-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-011-9156-x