Among the diverse and varied missions of community colleges is the provision of instruction for students who have either been underserved by their previous educational institutions or not had the opportunity to complete high school. Included under this umbrella are low-performing high school students, individuals with low basic skills, and those…

Efforts to improve educational attainment are hampered by the high school dropout crisis. At a time when governors are calling for changes to improve higher education access and success, more than 1 million youth ages 16 to 19 are not enrolled in school and do not have a high school diploma. Each year, an additional 390,000 youth drop out of…

In the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District has achieved a startling success over the last two years: it has recovered and graduated over 600 dropouts and put them on a clear pathway to college. Just a few years ago, low graduation rates, struggling high schools, and poor staff and student morale…

Arizona's Serve-America Project is a K-12 community service program funded by the National and Community Service Act of 1990. Through formal school/community agency and youth organization/community agency partnerships, the project is designed to: (1) encourage school-age and out-of-school youth to volunteer their services; (2) increase the number…

Efforts addressed at the pervasive school dropout problem in New York City received a boost in 1978 with the development of large scale, centrally initiated programs to reduce the number of high school dropouts. Based on the recommendations of two studies, the New York City Board of Education's Division of High Schools established outreach centers…

Project Return, a dual-component dropout recovery program under the administration of the Program for Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents began operating in 1990 and by 1993 had expanded to 19 sites. The Community Education Initiative operated in seven elementary schools and one satellite site to target elementary school parents of all ages who had…

The analysis of proposed or implemented programs for increasing the achievement of at-risk students in all grades is the purpose of this report. Its focus is on identifying effective organizational responses, programs, and practices that improve the achievement of all at-risk children. Schools currently respond to poor academic performance with…