Promoting successful school completion: Critical conceptual and methodological guidelines

Conceptual issues related to dropping out, student engagement, and school completion are raised. Thirteen criteria explicated by Crane (1998a) are described as guidelines for designing, evaluating, and documenting programs to enhance successful school completion for all students. The status of the current intervention research is summarized relative to the specified criteria. Recommendations for future research and practice include implementation of interventions, systematic application of criteria in evaluating interventions, focus on school completion across school years, and capturing students' experiences and using the information to develop contextualized interventions.