Describes the Youth Opportunity Program at the Central Islip, New York, Psychiatric Center and evaluates its effectiveness in preventing school dropout and providing career training. (ST)

Compares and describes school leavers in Ontario, Canada, and Somerset, England. Notes functional illiteracy is common among school leavers. Decides that the best approach is a concentrated effort on reading in grades three and four. Describes such a program to be instituted in York, Ontario, in September, 1984. (BRR)

A California Partnership Academy is a voluntary school-within-a-school program for at-risk high school students. The program is based on a partnership between a school district, local employers, and the California Department of Education. The following special features are outlined: (1) close partnership between the school and employers; (2) block…

The Portland School District addresses the dropout problem through programs which fall into the following categories: (1) keeping students engaged in meaningful learning according to their needs, and counseling if necessary, (2) placing students appropriately; (3) monitoring their performance and (4) intervening to prevent and recover dropouts.…

The work experience career exploration program (WECEP), a junior high school alternative education program for potential school dropouts, was implemented at Ben Franklin Junior High School in the Fargo, North Dakota, school district during the 1975-76 school year. Patterned after vocational education cooperative work experience programs, WECEP is…

School finance reform--traditionally based exclusively on school districts' access to funding--has been made difficult by fiscal retrenchment on one hand and the educational excellence movement on the other. Stating that school districts must consider the use as well as the availability of funds, this paper proposes a new definition of equity that…

The Alternative Co-operative Education Program (ACE program) of the Peel Board of Education in Ontario, Canada is a program implemented to address the needs of students who were leaving the school system before graduation. The objectives of the ACE program are to provide at-risk students with the opportunity to combine in-school and out-of-school…

Over the past decade, the Travelers Insurance companies have dramatically expanded their involvement in educational programs for students at all grade levels, from prekindergarden through college. Throughout the 1970s, the Travelers educational programs focused exclusively on providing speakers for career awareness programs for high school…

The California Partnership Academies Program is a highly successful school/business collaboration that allows students who are at risk of not graduating from high school to see clearly the connection between school and the workplace. The following key components are discussed: (1) an at-risk student population made up largely of the educationally…

The Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Alternative Secondary School (PASS) has been developed for at-risk students who need a self-contained educational program with a community educational approach. This model program is based on the need for students to experience individual growth and success in the areas of academics, therapeutics, behavior…

The New Smyrna Beach Employability Skills Training Program in Florida offers emotionally and behaviorally disordered adolescents the opportunity to learn basic academic, social, employability, and business skills through participation in a school-based business that models an actual job site. Comparative data for suspensions, dropouts, and…

The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects were set up to aid disadvantaged youths, ages 16 to 19, by guaranteeing them a part-time job during the school year and a full-time job during summer months on the condition that they remain in, or return to, a secondary school or enroll in an equivalent education program. The program was started in…

This report discusses the improvement initiatives in Boston (Massachusetts) middle schools triggered by the work of the Boston Compact to promote education-business collaborations to improve the public schools and provide better job and college-going opportunities for Boston students. Section 1 describes a study that was initiated to learn whether…

Ohio's Occupational Work Adjustment (OWA) program is a one- to two-year ungraded vocational program for fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds who have been identified as potential dropouts from the regular educational program. Begun on a pilot basis in 1967, OWA served over 80,000 students in 499 programs during the 1981-82 school year. The goal of OWA,…

The purpose of the Sylacauga, Alabama, exemplary program, reported for the period from July 1, 1970 to June 30, 1973, was to demonstrate practices found effective for working with socioeconomically disadvantaged and other dropout-prone students. Program objectives were to provide: (1) student counseling services to help appraise interests,…