This study was conducted to obtain more information on early school leavers in order to formulate strategies to decrease the dropout rate. The typical pattern for leavers is to complete some portion of the school year before dropping out. The greatest dropout activity occurs in January, February, and March. Typical school leavers: (1) are bored…

This dropout prevention guide was designed to assist school districts in identifying potential dropouts and in developing and implementing programs that provide prevention, intervention, and remediation. The introductory section briefly reviews the purpose, design, and origin of this guide and recognizes national dropout concerns, the…

The first part of this report on school dropouts summarizes the testimony at a hearing on dropouts given by: (1) Jacqueline P. Danzberger, The Institute for Educational Leadership; (2) Anthony Earl, former governor of Wisconsin; (3) Janice Earle, National Alliance of State Boards of Education; (4) Gloria Frazier, National Foundation for the…

This booklet for students is part of a series of program materials for a school-based intervention process to help at-risk students stay in school. It lists members of the helping process team, discusses what the helping process team does, and describes the eight steps in the helping process. The steps are as follows: referral, needs…

This paper on at-risk students in high schools examines and summarizes the literature on characteristics of youth-at-risk, factors causing at-risk students to drop out, and effective methods for keeping at-risk students in school. Those students who are most at-risk have the following characteristics: poor academic record; low parental education…

This paper, the second in an Education Commission of the States (ECS) series, focuses on the planning and financing of dropout prevention programs. Designed as a resource guide, the paper consists of three parts. The first section presents questions asked by policymakers, discusses the process of determining the resources required, and suggests…

Nine North Carolina programs in dropout prevention and for students at risk are described in this booklet. The programs were chosen for their comprehensiveness, serving kindergarten through grade 12. Even though there has been no formal validation of the programs presented, they are ones which appear to be using new and innovative solutions to…

This study addresses the effect that grade retention has on dropping out of school. A structural model was developed to test the effect of grade retention on dropping out while controlling for the effects of other possible mediating variables, especially achievement. This model with slight modifications was applied across four different school…

Preventing dropouts is the main topic of the 12 publications reviewed in this annotated bibliography. A statistical analysis of dropouts in Portland, Oregon, revealed that the correlation by school was far greater than correlation by residential area. In another study, approximately 155 droputs were questioned and most believed that the school…

This report assesses the first year of a school achievement program in Lowell, Massachusetts (Lowell Achievement Program, LAP). The program targeted seventh and eighth grade students who were at risk for dropping out of school. The main goals of the program were to identify these students and to stimulate them to participate in their own learning…

Literature from the past three decades does not suggest a specific role for school counselors in combating the school dropout problem. A search of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database for the years 1984-1986 produced only 15 items indexed under terms related to school counseling or the school counselor's role. Ideally a…

The findings of a task force study of New York City's implementation of a State dropout prevention law are provided in this report. An introduction describes briefly the historical background of the legislation, called the Attendance Improvement-Dropout Prevention program, which provided $28 million in supplemental funds to school districts with…

This document summarizes a comprehensive planning effort for the Baltimore area aimed at developing a constructive new approach for dealing with a major manpower and community problem: the situation of young high school dropouts. The program is predicated on the hypotheses that: (1) dropouts do not routinely receive counseling and referral…

Based on surveys of 125 school trustees and administrators and 186 student dropouts and truants in California, this guidebook examines the causes of student attendance problems, discusses guidelines and ideas for programs to combat these problems, and presents exemplary programs in three California school districts. A profile of a hypothetical…

A WORKSHOP DEALING WITH THE HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT WAS HELD FOR THE PURPOSES OF DISSEMINATING INFORMATION AND REVIEWING RESEARCH IN THIS FIELD. ATTEMPTS TO PROVIDE FOR THE DROPOUT IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS ARE NOT NEW, BUT THE BASIS FOR IMPLEMENTING A SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE TEACHER ACCEPTANCE OF THE STUDENT ON STUDENT TERMS. ALL EFFORTS TO…