Initiative Description: In the experimental school, a six-component package of universal interventions was implemented address-ing students from all grades: Workshops with teachers, Informative letters to parents, School Meetings with parents, music contest was promoted in the first semester to stimulate adolescents to compose songs about problems related to school dropout and the advantages of staying at school, Telephone helpline, Implementation of the program: ‘‘The Advantagesnof Staying at School,’’ developed by JuniorAchievement – Brazil, which is a structuredcognitive intervention aiming to keep students atschool, by combining the concepts of employability,qualification, and education. The main outcome variables were the rate of dropoutby the end of the school year (2004) and the rate ofabsenteeism during the third trimester of the sameschool year.

Study Results:After the intervention, significant differences between the two schools in both rates of dropout (3.85% in the test school and 9.54% in the control school; v2 = 15.45; P < 0.001), and absenteeism in the last trimester (in the experimental school, mean = 8.21 days/student [SD = 4.43]; in the control school, mean = 11.12 days/student [SD = 4.66]; t-test = 2.22; P < 0.05; ES = 0.64) were found.

Reference: Graeff-Martins, A. S., Oswald, S., Obst Comassetto, J., Kieling, C., Rocha Gonçalves, R., & Rohde, L. (2006). A package of interventions to reduce school dropout in public schools in a developing country. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 15(8), 442-449.
DOI 10.1007/s00787-006-0555-2

Level of Evidence: Good