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…

One California high school's dropout intervention program succeeded because it was organized to meet student, not organizational needs. The program also had highly motivated administrators, outstanding teachers, student and teacher incentives, secure funding, and orientation toward positive self-image. (MLH)

This report contains detailed descriptions of three program recommendations regarding public school choice. The recommendations are a result of a study conducted by the New Jersey Department of Education, in which public school choice and magnet schools were examined. The three recommended programs described are (1) Intradistrict Choice Program;…

Dropout prevention programs are school- and community-based initiatives that aim to keep students in school and encourage them to complete their high school education. To be included in the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) review, programs have to operate within the United States and include dropout prevention as one of their primary objectives.…

This report describes an evaluation of Project Success, a dropout prevention program at Crockett High School in Austin (Texas). The class centered program provided incentives for improved educational performance and attendance of at-risk ninth-grade students in the 1990-91 school year. The project served 103 students over the fall 1990 and spring…

This report presents the fourth-year findings on the effectiveness of Ohio's Learning, Earning, and Parenting (LEAP) Program, a statewide welfare initiative that uses financial incentives and penalties to promote school attendance by pregnant and parenting teenagers on welfare. The report looks at LEAP's effects on school completion, employment,…

Operation Second Chance trained school dropouts for vocational skills in three areas in North Carolina--the mountainous West, the Piedmont plains, and the coastal farmlands. Length of the training varied from the six weeks nurses' aide program to the 12-week sewing for upholstery program through the 16-week carpentry, upholstery, welding,…

Traces strategies for preventing high school dropouts from the traditional reliance on remediation or incentives to recent negative sanctions (e.g., West Virginia's "no school, no drive" law). The General Educational Development Program serves those who return voluntarily to school after having realized the importance of education. (JB)

A study was done of two Minnesota State "second chance" program options designed to help at-risk students to complete high school. The options are: (1) private urban alternative programs, administered by non-sectarian, community-based organizations principally serving teenagers from Minneapolis and St. Paul (Minnesota); and (2) the Area…

The ScholarshipBuilder Program, an adopt-a-class program, began in November 1988 to encourage selected first-grade students to stay in school until graduation in the year 2000. Scholarships will be provided by Merrill Lynch, Incorporated, for students who go on to college, and a one-time stipend will be provided to students who enter the military…

An analysis of Ohio's Learning, Earning, and Parenting (LEAP) program focused on the first 18 months of program operations. The 12 randomly selected research counties contained about two-thirds of the statewide teen population targeted by LEAP. The analysis relied on field research, supplemented by data collected from county human service agencies…

The at-risk students served by vocational education include academically disadvantaged students, dropouts, students with limited English proficiency (LEP), pregnant teens, single parents, migrants, economically disadvantaged students, handicapped students, and potential dropouts. The claim that the U.S. economy is healthy because unemployment is…