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…

Lowering the student dropout rate in America is one of the most significant challenges facing educators today. This book calls attention to this problem, and offers hope and suggestions on how to resolve it using effective strategies taken from research and personal observations gleaned from successful dropout prevention programs in school…

Understanding why students drop out is important in developing effective dropout prevention strategies. Traditional research has focused on high school dropouts; recent interest uses a developmental approach and examines possibilities for earlier intervention. Each section of this report analyzes dropout prevention at the preschool, elementary,…

Dropouts are defined throughout this document (including in its graphic displays) as: early school leavers, expelled, intermittent learners, leftouts, pushouts, stopouts, suspended, and truants. Sufficient research has been done about school dropouts to begin a comprehensive solution. Schools and other institutions must mobilize the knowledge to…

This report provides an overview of the operation of two innovative New York City dropout prevention programs, the Attendance Improvement and Dropout Prevention Program (AIDP) and the Dropout Prevention Program (DPP). First, basic program components, required and site-specific, are described briefly. Each program site must provide these…

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…

This report develops a topology of approaches to high school dropout prevention, and uses it to examine and review the effectiveness of existing programs, and to identify major gaps in current practice and research. Research on dropouts was reviewed to identify the kinds of students who drop out and their reasons for dropping out. Based on this…

The Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) obtained federal grant funds for a school dropout demonstration assistance program, which began operating in 1988-89 as Project GRAD (Grant Research About Dropouts). Project components included the following: (1) piloting the use of dropout intervention specialists at 10 high schools; (2)…

One of the major barriers to making good on this promise is the broad set of misconceptions framing most discussions of the dropout issue. Too often, both public perception and public policy seem based on the notion that dropping out is confined to a small--and particularly unmotivated--group of young people. A related assumption, although rarely…

Operation Success is a pilot project funded by the New York State Education Department to provide support services to high school dropouts and potential dropouts. It offers programs, including employment programs, intended to develop skills, self-awareness and self-direction, enourage career goals, and develop appropriate attitudes toward the…

This report presents nine steps, followed by work plans, for administrators when implementing a dropout prevention initiative. These nine steps are: (1) conduct a needs assessment to establish a database that identifies students who leave school early; (2) draft descriptors that identify elementary students who are at risk of dropping out later;…

This follow-up study finds that very little progress has been made in the state of Florida on the recommendations contained in the Commission on Hispanic Affairs' 1985 Annual Report, "The Hispanic Drop-out Rate," and the 1986 Annual report, "Underrepresentation of Hispanics in State Employment.""The Hispanic Drop-out…

This second interim report presents evaluation results from Project Youth Experiencing Success (YES) and documents a decrease in the Virginia statewide event-dropout rate in grades 7 through 12 from 4.8 percent during the 1988-89 school year to 3.3 percent during the 1991-92 year. Event-dropout rates measure the proportion of students who drop out…