Education is the most important key to racial progress in the United States. Leaders of historically Black colleges must seek financial stability for their institutions, develop programs to redeem talented Black dropouts and push-outs, and implement a curriculum that addresses the concerns of the Black community. (GC)

From among factors theoretically considered relevant to preventing school dropouts, empirical procedures identified five variables that predicted most of the variance among marginal youth: (1) extent of misbehavior in school; (2) belief in school's relevance to employment; (3) feelings of success in school; (4) parental monitoring of behavior; (5)…

Poor kids quit attending school because they need money for personal or family needs, they cant' compete with their peers financially, their parents don't value education, and/or the curriculum is not geared toward their needs. Work study funds, school-parent communication, curriculum revision and extracurricular participation could reduce their…

Pace University's efforts to attract and retain adult students include contacting nonmatriculated students to encourage commitment and resolve problems and contacting part-time students the first semester they stop attending. The results of the university taking the initiative have been increased retention and greater information about student…

This report includes state summaries of the annual dropout rate used in the accountability system, along with state attrition rates. It offers a series of longitudinal secondary school completion/student status rates. Out of 1,794,521 students attending Texas public secondary schools during 1999-00, 23,457 dropped out, a decrease of 15.0 percent.…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify factors related to dropout/retention for distance education students in order to identify variables that might promote participation through completion. The major focus of the study was to document the distance education students' learning progress and to identify variables that relate to their…

The National Dropout Prevention Center designed a project, Student Serving Students, to see if students in kindergarten through twelfth grade could help other students who were at risk of dropping out of school. Communities in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina developed a variety of ways for students to meet the needs of children at risk.…

Students who eventually drop out of school have a long-term disadvantage in becoming productive citizens. The traditionally structured U.S. high school system does not facilitate high school education for at-risk students. Some schools, however, do organize themselves around the needs of the at-risk student population. This study analyzed the…

Alternatives in junior high, middle, and intermediate schools run the gamut, the researchers of NASSP's exemplary program files discovered. A few of them are described in this article. (Editor)

Describes an innovative program launched at Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon, to forestall dropping out'' by longtime underachievers. (EA)

Describes the results of two experimental home economics courses for potential dropouts in inner city schools, the courses having been developed and tested in a cooperative research project. (JM)

Describes an area vocational school which has two programs--one in career exploration and one designed to keep potential dropouts in school. (SB)

Students in six advanced mathematics courses at the Open University were surveyed to identify and analyze reasons for withdrawal from the courses. Specific recommendations for preventing dropout advising and readily available counseling, clarifying course sequences, avoiding assumptions about student sophistication, and developing new curriculum.…

Results indicate freshmen consider academic and personal topics to be important, but academic categories have primacy. To increase freshmen retention, the academic domain warrants a high priority in orientation programs. They should also focus on student life outside the classroom such as finances and extracurricular activities. (Author)

Discusses attrition rate in community colleges and orientation and admission procedures that contribute to attrition. Describes a developmental studies program at Western Piedmont Community College (WPCC) designed to retain high-risk students through career development efforts as well as remedial education. (DR)