The DELTA program of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) (Texas) is an open-entry, open-exit competency-based diploma program in 10 high schools that is designed to help recover former dropouts and to prevent students who are at risk from dropping out. Instruction in the program is individualized and self-paced, but goals for the DELTA…

This interim report evaluates the implementation of the "House Plan," a plan to create small personalized schools within the 110 large comprehensive high schools in New York (New York) by subdividing all ninth grades into separate units. This evaluation covers only the 37 "dropout prevention" high schools which had been…

This study describes dropout prevention strategies used by social service and school personnel in the Stay-In-School Partnership Project (SSPP), analyzes longitudinal statistical data generated by the 3-year program, and proposes a model for conceptualizing and implementing a dropout prevention program for at-risk minority students. SSPP is a…

"A Vision for the Future," a comprehensive long-range plan to develop, implement, and evaluate a multipart program to reduce the dropout rate in the Charleston, South Carolina, school district, is described in this report. Goals and objectives are presented, followed by a description of 18 intervention strategies. Components of the plan…

California's Partnership Academies, which are conducted under the sponsorship of the state and aimed at dropout prevention for at-risk high school students, combine a modified curriculum and structure with the following elements: (1) a student selection process designed to enroll students with potential, but whose past performance places them at…

The Attendance Improvement Dropout Prevention (AIDP) program in New York City identifies and delivers services to middle school students who are excessively absent or otherwise at risk of dropping out. The AIDP program has the following components: (1) facilitation; (2) attendance; (3) guidance; (4) health; (5) school-level linkages; and (6)…

The One Major at a Time (OMAT) dropout program implemented for ninth and tenth graders by the Chicago, Illinois public schools is examined in this second year study. A description of the program includes information on its purpose, organization, instructional methods, student population, and objectives. Data on findings compare OMAT students with…

This proposal is for an additional New York State secondary certification to be called the Regents External High School Diploma. The new diploma program has been designed to provide a flexible and credible alternative to the four-year high school diploma and to the New York State Equivalency Diploma. The external diploma ordinarily would be…

The Reach-Out Program served as an enriched guidance service for potential dropouts. It sought, by closer contact with the home, to improve pupil attitude, attendance, punctuality, and reading competence and to make pupils and parents aware of those services available in school and community that would facilitate learning and maturity. The program…

The Lower East Side Preparatory School's main goal was to provide basic educational requirements for graduation with improved self-image among students who are dropouts/returnees from the lower east side. Because of the school's location it included the Chinatown area. The student population consisted principally of dropouts with poor academic…

The purpose of this program, funded under Title I of 1965 Elementary Secondary Act, is to send paraprofessional workers who are familiar with the community into the homes of high school students who show serious problems in school attendance, adjustment, or achievement. The objective is to establish rapport between the school and the parents in…

The City of Austin (Texas) provided funds for a supplementary educational activity to involve at-risk minority high school students in water quality issues. The program encourages at-risk students to remain in school by providing an interesting and authentic activity to use in the development of academic skills. Program activities included testing…

In fall 1993, the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) contracted with two community-based organizations to serve eligible AISD dropouts during the 1993-94 school year. The American Institute for Learning and Middle Earth Unlimited, Inc. provided services through the Creative Rapid Learning Center (CRLC) and the 78702 RAYS program,…

Problems with conducting randomized field experiments in education are explored. Focus is on problems encountered while evaluating a group of dropout prevention projects. Project planners were asked to manipulate the subject eligibility criteria until they identified as eligible three to four times as many students as they could serve. They were…

This document, a two-volume report, provides in volume 1 the final longitudinal evaluation of the New York City Dropout Prevention Initiative (DPI), 1985-86 through 1987-88. (The second volume comprises appendices containing summaries of each previous evaluation for this time period.) The DPI was implemented in 13 high schools and 29 feeder middle…