A longitudinal analysis of students who entered New York City high schools in 1979 supports the perception that most future dropouts can be identified at the beginning of their high school careers. This study examined the records of more than a quarter of the 1979 entering class at New York City high schools. Analyses were performed on attendance,…

By devolving authority to local schools, the 1988 Chicago School Reform Act sought to weaken central power in the school system and to promote greater site-based control. This report presents the voices of Chicago Illinois public school students regarding their school experiences--how they describe their teachers and peers, their classes, and…

This report, compiled by the North Carolina State Board of Education's Office for Dropout Prevention, provides dropout data, reasons for students' dropping out of school, and approaches for keeping students in school until successful completion of their education. Facts and figures for dropout rates of high school and the extended day school…

A study was conducted at the University of Minnesota's General College to examine the relationship between probationary status and students' gender, ethnicity, and placement test scores. The study involved 186 students on Level 1 probation (i.e., students whose work had fallen below the academic standard for two quarters, including those whose…

Spring 1998 surveys of faculty and students at University of Akron, Community and Technical (C&T) College (Ohio) queried respondents regarding their first-year experience with a faculty academic advising project. Forty of the 72 (55%) full-time C&T faculty responded, and 279 of 400 (70%) student surveys were returned. Faculty findings included:…

The Academic Assistance System (AAS) at Rio Hondo College in California is the early academic warning system that flags students in academic trouble. The AAS aims to assist these at-risk students through counseling, time management/study skills workshops, tutoring, and other programs. Students who received early warning letters and who responded…

The Austin (Texas) Independent School District has been researching the dropout issue for several years and has studied the implementation of the mandated Texas at-risk criteria to identify at-risk students. Having identified students at risk, the district followed them for 4 years (1987-88 to 1990-91) to determine the accuracy of the initial…

Despite increasing recognition that a high school diploma is a minimum requirement for success in the workplace, nearly half of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students fail to graduate, and in some CPS high schools, more students drop out than graduate. Research on dropping out has shown that the decision to persist in or leave school is affected by…

The Phi Delta Kappa Study of Students At Risk assessed who is at risk, what puts students at risk, what schools are doing to help those students, and how effective these efforts are. Data were provided on at-risk students in 85 U.S. and Canadian communities by teachers who knew each student best and had access to a student's school records. This…

The study described in this report examined the characteristics of eighth-grade students who were at risk of school failure. The study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, which is a large-scale, national longitudinal study begun in the spring of 1988 when 25,000 eighth graders attending public and private schools…