The study makes an in-depth investigation in the pedagogic model of a public secondary school that in the last 10 years has attained outstanding good results in terms of students’ learning and dropout prevention. The main research questions aimed to identify the follow-up strategies, to describe the leadership style, and the organizational culture, including the role of the families in it. The method used was a case study that involved more than 70 hours of field work, 30 interviews, document analysis (teacher’s registrations, meetings follow-ups) and observation (of the building, main interactions, meetings, recess time, support classes and tutoring activities). The chosen school showed a varied range of follow-up activities of the learning process of the students, as well as an instructional leadership that stresses the centrality of learning issues, a prompt attitude of the principal to solve administrative issues such as teacher absenteeism and an integrated school culture in which the students’ families are visible and active. This study dialogues with research on early school leaving, one of the main issues contemporary societies face, especially at the secondary school’s level, and makes an original contribution to the identification of school level follow-up strategies of the learning processes of at-risk students.
https://doi.org/10.15366/reice2017.15.4.008