The article presents a method of measuring the intensity of problems correlated with dropout and underachievement among primary and secondary students in two counties of Western Romania at the school level. The Composite Index of School Problems (CISP) was built as a simple sum of factor scores extracted through principal components analysis from a set of 17 items indicating dropout rates, academic achievement, academic integration, physical isolation and economic deprivation. The Index of problems measured at the school level correlates with the type of settlement and with the county too, but not with the size of the school. The limits of our methodological approach are discussed in the concluding section.
Keywords: composite index, social programs, education, needs assessment
|
|