"Many students who drop out of high school have not felt accomplished since the fourth grade," says Lynne Strathman, who runs an Illinois program for dropouts.

"Which means," says Strathman, "parents and educators might have ignored warning signs for years."

"Dropping out of school is often the result of a long process of disengagement," agreed Stuart Udell, chairman of the National Dropout Prevention Center, based at Clemson University in South Carolina. "And typically," he added, "kids have multiple risk factors rather than one simple problem."

Among the factors that contribute to the dropout problem:

• Adult responsibilities
• Truancy
• Disabilities
• Boredom
• Lack of extracurricular opportunities

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Source: Education Week andThe Associated Press (6/2)