For ease of comparison, the common stragegies (that were found in schools with high drop out rates) are contrasted with the demonstrably successful PD strategies. Comparison of Common Practices and Practices found in Positive Deviant Schools
In the Misiones Province of Argentina, school retention is a major issue. Almost half of the students drop out before the end of the third grade. In order to address this problem the Ministry of Education and the World Bank decided to pilot a Positive Deviance project in two districts; Alem and San Pedro.
Although economic difficulties left many teachers, parents, and schools feeling that the retention problem was insurmountable, the Positive Deviance approach has allowed them to see viable solutions which already exist within their district. Using PD inquiries, low performing schools discovered that there are schools which have been able to achieve better results, without access to any special resources. By identifying the specific strategies that enable these 'Positive Deviant' schools to successfully address common problems, the less successful schools discovered that their problems are not intractable. Rather, these low performing schools have found that through the PD process they could identify strategies that they could use to improve their retention rates today.
The four steps of the PD process are illustrated through the Argentina pilot project. They are:
In some school districts in rural Argentina, almost half of the students drop out before they complete the third grade. Although economic difficulties left many teachers and schools feeling like this problem was insurmountable, the Positive Deviance design has allowed parents and schools to see possible solutions by identifying what is going right. Using Positive Deviance, these schools discovered that within their district there are schools (the 'positive deviants') who are able to retain over 75% of their students,without access to any special resources. By examining the specific strategies and practices employed by these PD schools, the schools have come to see that there are things that can be done today to improve student retention.