The impact of career counseling plus DISCOVER (Internet version) on the academic achievement of high school sophomores at risk for dropping out of school

Abstract

The United States continues to struggle with the problem of high school dropouts. Researchers and educators have identified and developed interventions to address this problem, including prevention programs within the schools to assist with academic and personal struggles, as well as career guidance programs, such as ACT's DISCOVER, designed to strengthen career development. Poor academic achievement has been identified as a main predictor for dropping out. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to evaluate the combined effect on academic achievement of both DISCOVER and career counseling with at-risk sophomores. Data were collected from 33 at-risk high school sophomores. Based on the analyses, there is statistical support that the number of credits earned by the students increased, supporting the use of the combined intervention in positively impacting the academic performance of at risk students. It is recommended that further research with a larger sample size be conducted to further explore these interventions and their impact on academic achievement and preventing high school dropouts.