Describes the Mercy Tutoring Services Program, which provides individualized instruction in basic academic and life skills for high school dropouts, suspended or expelled students, those assigned to the program by Juvenile Court, or students with chronic truancy or behavioral problems. Suggests ways of implementing the model elsewhere. (AYC)

Compared aptitude, vocational, and personality measures of high school dropouts with those of a normative population. Also studied the relative contribution of selected variables to achievement. Suggests that achievement motivation, social class, and the institutional impact of the school must be examined to identify reasons for academic failure.…

Describes the ethnographic component of a multidisciplinary evaluation, conducted by the RMC Research Corporation, of the Career Intern Program for dropouts. Includes discussion of participant observations, interviewing techniques, triangulation, unobtrusive measures, data recording, and equipment. (Part of a theme issue entitled…

Describes a New York City high school's experience with Outward Bound, a cooperatively funded experiential learning program. Rock climbing was used to teach youngsters how to deal with the metaphorical walls facing everyone. The program's success (a 90% graduation rate) depended on faculty commitment, administrative support, motivated student…

Alternative schools provide structured learning environment where students can continue their education and earn credit while learning academic and life skills. Survey of 45 at-risk students enrolled in alternative high school program showed greater satisfaction with alternative program than with a traditional high school program. Administrators…

Describes Mat-Su Alternative School (Wasilla, Alaska), which accepts dropouts age 15 to 21. School features include informal environment; small class size; comfortable teacher/student relationships; unconventional projects to engage student interest; parenting classes, day care for students' children, and other student support services; and…

As part of its dropout prevention efforts, the state of Florida offers currently enrolled high school students the opportunity to earn a General Educational Development (GED) certificate. This new graduation option for at-risk students makes frequent use of computer-assisted instruction, operates a counseling component, integrates vocational…

First-year outcomes of the 1990-91 Project Achieve in 32 New York City public high schools are presented in this paper. Project goals are to improve student performance outcomes and to increase successful school completions. Methodology involved analysis of quantitative data from all participating 32 high schools and central data files. Findings…

Vocational education is one of the strategies most frequently cited as a dropout prevention measure, and some schools can document such program outcomes as increased student attendance, retention, and graduation rates. Disadvantaged youth who take vocational courses are less likely to be unemployed and more likely to obtain better-paying jobs.…

A project identified as potential dropouts 53 Springfield (Ohio) South High School freshmen and 24 London (Ohio) High School juniors and seniors who demonstrated irregular attendance patterns and poor grade achievement. The 53 freshmen and 15 London High School students were enrolled in a career club, an intervention program to address their…

ASPIRA is a community-based Hispanic American organization dedicated to improving the economic status of Hispanic Americans by reducing the high school dropout rate. ASPIRA uses the cultural, ethnic, and linguistic affinities of the Hispanic community to work with students through local clubs. The ASPIRA intervention process is based on awareness…

This report on the high proportion (25 percent) of California high school students who drop out is divided into five major sections. The first discusses the historical shifts in reform efforts to address, alternately, "relevance" and "excellence." It finds that high school students are now more bored and apathetic than…

This interim report examines the second-year implementation of dropout prevention programs in the 42 public schools that are part of the New York Dropout Prevention Initiative (NYDPI). Evaluators employed both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in gathering data on the 29 middle school and 13 high school program sites, and on the…

As the 21st century rapidly approaches, America will be directly confronted with the reality that its nationwide public education system has failed to adequately and accurately train its future generation of citizens. Socioeconomic status and race have been implicated as the two biggest factors related to dropping out. Current researchers have…

This document reports on the first year of operation of Project ARJO: Academic Recovery through Job Opportunity, a program developed by Sandy Union High School District #2 in Sandy, Oregon under a Title VI Excellence in Education grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The primary objective of Project ARJO is the academic recovery of…