Almost from the start of the public schools system in America, students have been leaving school without high school diplomas. However, the dropout issue did not rise to the level of significance it has today until the early 1980s, when social pressures, along with business leaders, leveraged their influence on educators to address the dropout…

To stem the tide of students dropping out, many schools and districts are turning to early warning systems (EWS) that signal whether a student is at risk of not graduating from high school. While some research exists about establishing these systems, there is little information about the actual implementation strategies that are being used across…

This document is the first in a series of guides designed to help school district leaders address one of the toughest challenges in American education: dropout rates of 30 percent nationwide, 50 percent in many big cities, and 60 percent or more in the lowest-performing schools. It describes in abbreviated form how district leaders and…

This document is part of a series of guides designed to help school district leaders address one of the toughest challenges in American education: dropout rates of 30 percent nationwide, 50 percent in many big cities, and 60 percent or more in the lowest-performing schools. This second guide in the series offers a detailed examination of the six…

Some young people naturally flourish in school; others struggle due to difficult life circumstances. There is also another group of young people who have no substantial issues or barriers but are still at risk of disengaging from learning. Through research, it is known that the majority of young people who are not in education, employment or…

The primary goal of a districtwide dropout-prevention program is to develop, implement, and enhance instructional and programmatic components that have proven effective in educational research and practice and thus resulted in fewer students dropping out of school prior to high school graduation. This paper describes the development and…

Answers to questions most often asked about the second National Education Goal are provided in this document. Goal 2 states that "by the year 2000, the high school graduation rate will increase to 90 percent." Among the areas covered are school strategies to improve graduation rates, community and business roles, incentives to stay in…

This manual provides a synthesis of research-based dropout prevention and intervention and offers examples of interventions that show evidence of effectiveness. This has proven to be a difficult task because the intervention research on dropout and school completion that can be used to inform practice is incomplete (Dynarski & Gleason, 2002;…

This booklet addresses the difficulties of comparing and drawing meaning from dropout data prepared by different agencies, and examines the characteristics of students--and of schools--that place students at risk for leaving school prematurely. The booklet describes prevention programs and presents evidence on their effectiveness. It reviews…

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…

Programs to encourage dropouts to finish school need to overcome the roadblocks of credits, time, and support services. Highlights nine specific hallmarks of effective dropout prevention programs gleaned from a study of 479 programs titled: "School Dropouts: Survey of Local Programs." (MLF)

How can teachers and administrators steer students toward graduation and away from dropping out? What determining factors contribute to a student's choice to drop out? Why is high school graduation such an important issue in society today? Effective prevention and intervention programs for the most vulnerable students are key to improving…

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and the Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE) at Ohio State University worked with six schools (two comprehensive high schools, two high schools served by an area vocational center, an area vocational center, and a junior high school) in the SREB region to keep potential dropouts in…

About one in four students who enter high school will not graduate. Numerous dropout-prevention programs have been implemented nationwide in the past decade to increase the high school graduation rate. This growth in programs has made it more difficult for educators to determine the effectiveness of the many alternatives. This guide is designed to…

This handbook describes a high school dropout prevention program that integrates academic education, vocational education, and a support system in order to provide students with multiple options for their future careers and personal lives. The following information is provided: the program's philosophy; major components (vocational education,…