Background: Education plays a pivotal role in empowering individuals with the knowledge and skills needed for careers, economic progress, and societal engagement. Dropping out of school before achieving a qualification undermines these opportunities and has an impact on individuals and society (Audit Commission, 2010; OECD, 2023). International…

The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential, quasi-military program that serves young people ages 16 to 18 who are struggling to complete their high school credential. This is the ninth report in an annual series that RAND researchers have issued. The prior annual reports cover 2015 through 2022. Each annual report documents the…

Students who have dropped out of high school--and those at risk of doing so--are at greater risk of lifelong poverty, involvement with the criminal justice system, dependence on government welfare programs, and even premature death. In the last few years, however, the problems at high schools have compounded, as pandemic-era school closures led to…

Most students who begin at a community college do not complete their desired credential. Many students fail to graduate due to various barriers other than their academic performance. To encourage previously successful non-completers to re-enroll and eventually graduate, a growing number of community colleges have implemented re-enrollment…

Despite the substantial efforts made by higher education institutions to reduce dropout rates, a considerable proportion of students still discontinues their initial study program. In view of this situation, the present study aims to investigate whether participation in first-year courses for personal and academic support goes along with a…

A recent major reform of higher education has changed a year-based system into a credit accumulation one. We use this exogenous shock to compare the two systems. Using a longitudinal dataset of undergraduate students from one of the largest French-speaking universities, a competing risks survival analysis is performed to study the probabilities…

We analyze the characteristics and outcomes of a Canadian foundational learning program's dropouts and compare them with those of the completers. We find significant heterogeneity within dropouts along two dimensions: when they drop out and why. Individuals whose characteristics have been historically associated with greater labour market…

Objective: The prevalence of mental health symptoms on university campuses is high and rising, resulting in detrimental effects on academic performance. Few resources exist to address the needs of students who must leave school for mental health reasons. Participants: Seeking to understand the effect of a college reentry program (NITEO) to assist…

When students drop out of high school there are substantial social and economic consequences that can persist throughout their lives. They are more likely to be unemployed, to become teenage parents, to become involved in the criminal justice system, and to suffer a lifetime of low wages. Dropout rates soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as…

This article investigates the career paths of learners who attended Youthreach education centres. Youthreach originated in 1989 as an alternative pathway for early school learners experiencing disadvantage. Youthreach is an underresearched sector of the education system, even less is known about the career progression of Youthreach graduates. This…

Substance use among school dropouts is a growing global concern that has not been assessed through a meta-analysis. This study aims to provide an overview of the relationship between school dropout and substance use. We searched the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PsychINFO, ERIC (EBSCO), MEDLINE (EBSCO), and CINAHL (EBSCO)…

This article sets out to share the experience of a Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) Further Education and Training (FET) Guidance Counsellor on collaborating with FET Literacy and Apprenticeship Services colleagues to support young male early school leavers who had achieved less than the required five passes in their Junior Certificate to…

The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential, quasi-military program for youth ages 16 to 18 who are experiencing difficulty in traditional high school. This report covers the program years 2018-2019 and is the fourth in a series of annual reports that RAND Corporation researchers have issued over the course of a research project…

Many youth in America are not on track for labor market success. One factor that increases the risk of poor labor market outcomes among these youth is dropping out of school (Rumberger 2020). Youth who drop out of school are at greater risk for job instability and for lower longterm earnings (Hair et al. 2009). They are also more likely to…

To attract and retain rural teachers, the Chinese government has piloted the Free Teacher Education Programme (FTEP) since 2007. Examining the FTEP participants' intentions and reasons for default helps stakeholders make effective and timely adjustments to existing policies and regulations so that more capable preservice teachers may be retained…