COMPLETE-prosject

Background

Dropout in high school education is a pronounced concern for Norwegian authorities and the Ministry of Education wants knowledge about what measures can have a positive effect on the completion of high school education. The COMPLETE project is one of four randomized controlled studies in the Ministry of Education’s Program for better completion in high school education, and intends to facilitate increased completion, well-being and less absence in high school. The project involves implementing and evaluating the effect of two measures that will facilitate good psychosocial learning environments: Dream School and Attendance Team. The Dream School is a universal program aimed at all students at the school, and the Attendance Team is a school measure aimed at particularly vulnerable students with challenges in everyday school life. Both measures focus on more systematic work to promote the psychosocial environment and to improve contact between employees and students at the school.

You can read more abour the COMPLETE-project on the norwegian homepage here.
 

Study design

The COMPLETE project is an ongoing school-based randomized controlled study in 17 high schools in four counties in Norway. The project uses a mixed method design to be able to say something about both the effect of the measures and the process of implementing the measures, the latter of which will contribute to explaining results from the effect evaluation.

The schools were randomized into three groups:

1. Intervention Group 1 (TG1): Six schools are only testing the Dream School model
2. Intervention Group 2 (TG2): Six schools are testing a combination of both measures (Dream School and Attendance Team)
3. Control group (K): Five schools are control schools

The Prosject follows two cohorts: 

• Cohort 1 (K1) started high school in the fall of 2016 and is followed for 3 years 
• Cohort 2 (K2) started high school in the fall of 2017 and is followed for 2 years.

You can read the study protocol here.