This guide is intended to be useful to educators in high schools and middle schools, to superintendents and school boards, and to state policymakers in planning and executing dropout prevention strategies. The target audience includes school administrators as well as district-level administrators, seeking to help develop practice and policy…

Over the last decade, between 347,000 and 544,000 10th- through 12th-grade students left school each year without successfully completing a high school program Status dropout rates represent the proportion of young people ages 16 through 24 who are out of school and who have not earned a high school credential. Status rates are higher than event…

For some youth, schools provide more structure and stability than any other source. Project Pioneer, a pilot project at a Wichita (Kansas) high school, helps create a support base for high risk youths entering high school. Success depends on extensive staff training and close counseling for potential dropouts. (MLH)

This article reports that education leaders in Los Angeles, faced with unrelenting pressure to raise anemic high school graduation rates, are turning to YouTube, MySpace, text messaging, and the radio waves to reach students at risk of dropping out of school and lure back thousands who have already left. The Los Angeles Unified School…

This paper examines available information on early identification of students at risk of prematurely dropping out of school. Many factors such as drug use, lowered educational achievement, delinquency, and unemployment appear to be consequences of dropping out, yet cause and effect is often difficult to define. A variety of school related,…

In response to the growing dropout problem, most of the northeastern states (and islands) and many of their local districts have implemented policies and programs designed to reduce the number of students leaving school. This paper presents some observations, culled from various reports, for policymakers' consideration. Section I offers a set of…

In light of the fact that students at risk of dropping out of school have become the focus of national attention, this paper examines one alternative program designed to work with a population considered to be at very high risk for dropping out. The population served by the School-Community Guidance Center (SCGC) in the Austin (Texas) Independent…

Describes Jobs through Education and Training (JET), a program for dropouts that offers vocational training, remedial academics, and individual and group therapy. JET serves young people whose problems make them unable to function effectively in a public school environment. (JOW)

Nine distinct programs aimed at reducing the dropout rate and bringing "at-risk" students back into the educational mainstream are described in this publication. The document first notes the social and economic costs to the nation of students dropping out before completing high school. The report then describes changes in Wisconsin's attendance…

Across Canada almost 40 percent of youth drop out and do not finish high school. Young people feel they can drop out of school and find a job tomorrow that will pay them enough so they can continue the lifestyle to which they are accustomed. However, unemployment rates for individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 are high. There are people who…

To help administrators answer important questions about student needs and dropout program effectiveness, this article offers a basic checklist of recommended characteristics, including a cohesive, systemwide strategy; clearly identified at-risk students; well-clarified roles; caring attitudes toward students; tough and compassionate staff; and…

At-risk students are often poor and members of minority groups. Solutions to the dropout problem are inseparably tied to combating poverty and could stimulate far-reaching educational change. Researchers have identified several elements of successful dropout prevention programs, including the need for early prevention; aggressive leadership;…

The Target 2000 legislation enacted by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1989 mandates halving the state's dropout rate by the year 2000. The statute requires that the State Board of Education, assisted by a select committee, devise and pilot-test dropout prevention programs during school years 1989-90, 1990-91, and 1991-92. In September…

This report describes three model programs in dropout prevention that were developed for three school systems, Granville, Haywood, and Wake Counties, in the State of North Carolina. The three model programs have several general characteristics in common: planning; comprehensiveness; collaboration; commitment of a wide range of people; and dropout…

Involving parents in a team approach by providing parent education and assistance programs can only strengthen dropout prevention strategies that are being developed and implemented throughout the nation. (JOW)