¶ … gap, problem, purpose, RQ's, method, design, and analysis? According to Hickman (et al.) in the 2008 article "The differential developmental pathways of high school dropouts and graduates" from the Journal of Educational Research, the concern about the gap in achievement between high school graduates and non-graduates has long been a concern of educators and educational policy-makers alike. The peer-reviewed study posed two essential research questions to address the problem of low high school retention rates: first, do differences in the educational development of high school graduates and dropouts exist early on in their elementary school careers and secondly, if differences do exist, "where in time and across which variables do these differences occur" (Hickman et al. 2008: 2). The study attempts to address a 'research gap' in the existing literature regarding the focus on the secondary school careers of high school graduates. Focusing on the problems students encounter in high school ignores the factors which contribute to the difficulties students experience in secondary school from K-8 (Hickman et al. 2008: 4). The purpose or hope of the research study is that by identifying factors that predispose a student to dropping out, more effective remedies might be offered to deal with the problem.

A randomized cohort (longitudinal, observational study)...

The methodology was as follows: the authors selected 119 students "enrolled across four cohorts (2002-2005) from a school district located in east central Arizona. More specifically, 60 graduating students were randomly sampled from the 2002-2005 cohorts and 60 dropout students were randomly sampled from the 2002-2005 cohorts" (Hickman et al. 2008: 10). In terms of the gender and ethnic breakdown: "female participants constituted 49.2% of the sample and male participants constituted 50.8% of the sample. The ethnic distribution of the participants included Caucasian-American (77.8%), Hispanic (15.7%), and Native American (6.5%) students, similar to both school and state demographics" (Hickman et al. 2008: 10-11).
The research findings yielded evidence that the educational trajectories of future dropouts, as opposed to those who completed high school, could be predicted as early as kindergarten: "Dropouts appear to have exhibited differential capabilities compared with graduates as early as kindergarten. Couple such academic deficits from the beginnings of school, along with being academically retained in middle childhood, and experiencing absenteeism at critical stages throughout their developmental progression, dropouts are clearly on a differential developmental pathway from the beginning of their academic career than those students…