Is the make-or-break moment for a high school dropout actually in middle school? FRONTLINE’s new report the “Middle School Moment” explores the work of Johns Hopkins University researcher Dr. Robert Balfanz who has uncovered a series of indicators that he says can predict how likely a student is to drop out of high school. Balfanz’s research says that in high-poverty schools, if a sixth grade child attends school less than 80 percent of the time, receives an unsatisfactory behavior grade in a core course, or fails math or English, there is a 75 percent chance that they will later drop out of high school — absent effective intervention.

Watch the report and learn more about how Balfanz’s research is used in Middle School 244 in the Bronx to detect students in trouble and intervene before they become at-risk of dropping out of high school.

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Middle School Moment The make-or-break moment for high school dropouts may actually occur in middle school.