Across the nation, school policymakers are grappling with what to do about the increasing numbers of students who do not advance beyond ninth grade. National estimates put the student attrition rate before tenth grade at between 11 and 33 percent, and only about 70 percent of ninth graders make it to graduation. This policy brief focuses on one…

Excerpted here from an address presented to the Indiana Association of Secondary School Principals, this article focuses on how community education programs can help solve some of the crises schools face today as they search for relevancy and meaning. (Editor)

Results from the first two years of an effort in 10 high schools to replicate the California Peninsula Academies Program are reported. The combination of core academic curriculum with technical instruction in an occupational field has resulted in better grades and more course credits for participants than for non-participants. (SLD)

This report evaluates a program designed to develop a new curriculum for disadvantaged eighth and ninth grade students in New York City who were performing poorly in school (academically, socially, emotionally) and who appeared likely to become school dropouts. The evaluation--representing the work of a multidiscipline team of specialists in…

The Job Upgrading Program helps school dropouts and potential dropouts either return to or adjust to the regular school program or become prepared for the world of work. Trainees are given the opportunity to take an abbreviated school program, receive highly individualized personal counseling, learn about the factors for achieving success in a…

Project Process, funded through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title VIII, is an integrated model within the existing school system concentrating on reducing the number of dropouts via an institutional change strategy. The basic goal of the project is to develop a flexible atmosphere where learning can take place. Within this goal is…

The Edison Project, funded under Title VIII of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act, has as its major objectives the reduction of the dropout rate, the increasing of the average daily attendance, the improvement of basic skills, and the development of career awareness. The project has been established as an annex to Edison High School, an…

Project Emerge, funded under Title VIII of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act, is located in the Model Cities Area, a black-inhabited west side section of Dayton, Ohio. The target school student population is 2,300 of which 20 percent come from families with low incomes. Project Emerge's major objectives are to reduce the dropout rate in…

The Edison Project is an ESEA Title VIII dropout prevention program for 250 tenth grade students who were identified as potential dropouts on the basis of previous attendance, grades, and grade level retention. Some of the problems that affect student attendance have been found to be gangs, money, race, and relevance of education. The project was…

Project Stay is a demonstration project of the St. Louis Public Schools, funded under Title VIII of Public Law 90-247, with several programs concentrating on reducing the number of dropouts. The project has the purpose of identifying students who are potential dropouts, determining their individual needs, and developing programs to meet those…

This interim evaluation compares the initiation, design, and curriculum of two school-based "academy" programs in Oakland (California) high schools and examines their links to the school district and the business community. The academy model of schools-within-a-school originated in Philadelphia. The Health Academy at Oakland Technical…

The Portable Assisted Study Sequence (PASS) Program, designed to provide correspondence course work whereby high school migrant students throughout California may earn credits leading toward completion of their graduation requirements, was evaluated using the following items selected by project staff request, funding guidelines, and consultant…

The Cluster Program, funded under Title I of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act, is a two year mini-school designed for 150 ninth year and 150 tenth year students in ten classes of 30 students each. Students are admitted to the Cluster Program on the basis of being two years or more behind in reading and mathematics skills. The major…

STEP IS A PART-TIME SCHOOL, PART-TIME WORK PROGRAM DESIGNED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF POTENTIAL SCHOOL DROPOUTS 15 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER. PUPILS ATTEND SCHOOL IN THE MORNING AND WORK IN THE AFTERNOONS. THE TEACHER-COORDINATOR PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE AND MEETS WITH A GROUP OF 15 TO 20 PUPILS DAILY TO "ORIENT" THEM TO SCHOOL AND WORK EXPERIENCES.…

The Alternative Basic Comprehension Program (Project A.B.C.) was an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title VII-funded special alternative instructional program in its fourth year at two high schools in the Bronx (New York). In 1993-94, the project served 264 students of limited English proficiency from many countries. Participating students…