"Continuous Improvement in High Schools" gives educators and policymakers an accessible, actionable framework to address one of the nation's most important educational priorities: improving high school graduation and postsecondary preparedness rates. Martha Abele Mac Iver and Robert Balfanz, national experts in dropout prevention, apply…

Recent applications of artificial intelligence (AI) have been successful in performing complex tasks in health care, financial markets, manufacturing, and transportation logistics, but the influence of AI applications in the education sphere has been limited. However, that may be changing. In this paper, the author discusses several ways that AI…

In this reflective essay, Alan McCullough Jr., Felton Morrell Jr., Bernard Thomas III, Vincente Waugh, and Nicholas Shubert with their teacher, Amy Donofrio, share the youth self-authorship methods that empowered them to transform their labels from "at-risk youth" to "at-hope youth leaders" in Jacksonville, Florida. After…

For over two years the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) at Clemson University has been supporting the Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) in NW Alaska with their efforts to reduce high school dropout in 23 remote Yup'ik Eskimo villages. The Rural Alaska Mentoring Project (RAMP) provides school-based E-mentoring services to 164…

When students struggle in the elementary and middle grades, the likelihood that they will drop out of high school increases dramatically. Although most dropout prevention resources have focused on high schools in a last-ditch effort to keep students in school, earlier interventions in elementary and middle grades provide a better opportunity to…

Literature on retention for first-year students appears to focus on the emotional, interpersonal, and financial problems these students face when beginning their post-secondary education. The article accepts the importance of these issues and their effect on retention. However, the article suggests that there are other issues that should be…

Teaching students in the inner city has been likened to hugging a porcupine--teachers nudge them toward success while getting pricked along the way. Many urban students perform below proficiency level and are difficult to manage. Their apathy toward completing class assignments, let alone homework, compounds the problem. As a whole, educators do…

The Vocational Program Evaluation Profile represents a dropout prevention model for students enrolled in vocational special needs programs. The model includes self-identification of reasons for dissatisfaction as well as suggested counseling and instructional strategies. (DB)

Although researchers have clearly connected dropping out of school to prolonged low achievement, to date, effective teaching practices are largely absent from the milieu of interventions and programs that are employed by schools to address dropout prevention. As such, effective instructional design and delivery as a focus for keeping students with…

As educators and practitioners continue to seek effective interventions to prevent dropout, they must focus on identifying, monitoring, and addressing risk factors that are influenced by teachers (e.g., academic performance, peer and adult interactions, attendance, and behavior). As a result, teachers' roles in dropout prevention are critical.…

The articles in this booklet offering innovative ideas for school improvement were selected from Prototype pieces published in the Phi Delta Kappan since the fall of 1981. Each of the projects has been successfully implemented in a school and is currently in operation. The first section, "Keeping Kids in School" presents programs involving parents…

Use of diagnostic testing (for mathematics skills) and multiple-choice, computer-graded homework in reducing dropout from general physics is discussed. Indicates that these strategies were successful without sacrificing academic or grading standards. Includes list of topics on the diagnostic math test and sample homework problem set (in…

A project conducted in an adult literacy and basic education program in Pennsylvania proposed to use small group interaction to increase weekly attendance 10 percent from the previous program year, increase students' input into the learning process, and develop better tools to improve the learning environment. The group consisted of 39 adult…

Information about alternative education as a baseline of thought for school reorganization is presented in this document. Chapter 1 describes the perspectives of alternative education and identifies common types. Teaching methods, strategies, and beliefs of alternative education are discussed in chapter 2. Chapter 3 focuses on the structural…

These symposium papers describe the Fresh Start Minischool, a high school dropout prevention program in Washington, DC. The first paper, by Marcia McBeath, describes the program participants and the quantitative results of a 3-year study of the program. Data are presented on selection procedures, yearly group compositions, measures of self-esteem,…