A survey was conducted to evaluate nationally the retention of undergraduates at institutions of higher education. In particular the survey sought to: determine the rates at which full-time students persisted in and completed higher education; identify factors that institutional representatives felt influence students to leave school; and describe…

This monograph reviews the literature on intervention for potential dropouts at the secondary school level in order to determine factors responsible for students being at risk and to provide information on a variety of projects and programs that are effectively alleviating the number of such students who fail to complete their education. The…

The Elementary At-Risk Program was an intensive counseling, guidance, community outreach, and family case-management support system for a selected group of acutely at-risk students (approximately 60 students at one level and 180 students at another) in eight Houston (Texas) Independent School District (ISD) elementary schools. Social worker…

This paper presents an analysis of a California state mandated effort to reduce dropout rates. In particular, the analysis looks at which program components and strategies are successful in increasing school holding power and what organizational and administrative factors are linked to the decision to actually implement the program as designed.…

A 3-year project analyzed the Arkansas postsecondary vocational-technical education system to determine how effectively delivery was meeting the objective of providing vocational training. Two postsecondary vocational-technical schools in Northeast Arkansas were selected as pilot schools to test the innovative strategies that evolved from the…

School reform efforts today have a personal focus that emphasizes attending to the problems faced by individual at-risk students. After outlining the impact of student dropouts, this document uses information from a review of 150 at-risk student programs described in related professional literature to describe six basic weaknesses in current…

This publication presents the evaluation of the Secondary Special Education Initiative, a 5-year partnership between the New Jersey State Department of Education and nine school districts. The initiative was established in 1983 to enhance the development of high-school programs and services for educationally handicapped pupils. The initiative had…

Since 1983, Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) has invested resources in a comprehensive matriculation program to help students achieve their educational objectives. In each of the 6 subsequent years, the college has added components to its matriculation program and refined others. An evaluation of the program was conducted in 1989, comparing…

STRIVE was a special instructional program which provided a nurturing, caring, intensive instructional milieu for over-aged, low-performing ninth graders, who were perceived to be at risk of dropping out of school, at Barbara Jordan High School for Careers in Houston (Texas) during the 1988-89 school year. This report evaluates the effectiveness…

An evaluation of a statewide dropout prevention strategy program with 13 prevention projects conducted by the Louisiana State Department of Education in the 1988-89 school year is presented. Both summative and process evaluations are described. The attitudes of 831 10th-grade students were measured using a pretest and posttest attitude survey…

The Shawnee High School/Detrick Vocational Center and Fairdale High School/Fairdale Vocational Center Academic/Vocational Projects are pilot programs designed to integrate academic and vocational studies in two Kentucky schools. In this project, students take their basic subjects at their high school and explore the vocational programs at the…

The Positive Impact Program (PIP) is a program that involves the community through role models as mentors in striving to meet the needs of at-risk students. The program is directed by 16 black men who work every week with school-age black males (N=18) who have been identified as being "at-risk" by their teachers. The teachers identified…

An intervention program was implemented to reduce absences, stimulate responsibility for assignments, and increase participation in extracurricular activities among disengaged ninth-grade students (N=18). Older students served as role models and peer mentors as they sought to establish that freshmen could control their own success or failure in…

The Wisconsin "Learnfare" policy requires that teenagers receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) attend school regularly until they have completed high school. The population of teen parents and dependent teens receiving AFDC from September 1988 through December 1989 included 22,241 males and 30,995 females. About half…

Recent studies showing the need for improvements in the educational system in the United States have resulted in strengthening of academic requirements, upgrading of standards for promotion, and increased course loads in high schools throughout the country. Pennsylvania is no exception to this trend; the passage of Chapter 5 legislation, which…