A high school in Oregon has had positive results from the development of a dropout prevention program. Students meet together each day, develop goals, and earn credits for successful efforts. Program design and implementation are described. (DF)

The Virginia Education Association and the Appalachia Educational Laboratory jointly sponsored a group of six educators to study descriptions of over 100 programs for at-risk students in Virginia public schools. The group developed a Survey of Programs for At-Risk Students that called for an extensive program description and mailed the survey to…

This report summarizes the results of a large-scale study of the dropout problem in Texas. The report is divided into three major sections which deal with these questions, respectively: (1) What is the magnitude of the dropout problem in Texas? (2) What is the economic impact of the dropout problem for Texas? and (3) What is the nature and…

As part of its dropout prevention efforts, the state of Florida offers currently enrolled high school students the opportunity to earn a General Educational Development (GED) certificate. This new graduation option for at-risk students makes frequent use of computer-assisted instruction, operates a counseling component, integrates vocational…

The Operation Rescue project was designed to develop a classroom setting for the delivery of comprehensive educational services to "at risk" young adolescents. The classroom was established as part of the pre-existing Jonesboro Alternative School, and it utilized the basic academic and social program developed by this entity over 12…

A project identified as potential dropouts 53 Springfield (Ohio) South High School freshmen and 24 London (Ohio) High School juniors and seniors who demonstrated irregular attendance patterns and poor grade achievement. The 53 freshmen and 15 London High School students were enrolled in a career club, an intervention program to address their…

The costly supplemental or alternative programs that combat chronic school failure and continued high dropout rates are not always effective for the following reasons: (1) students do not always find out which programs are available, and (2) if no suitable program is available, there is usually no one responsible for trying to create one. People…

Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU), a program operating on funds from the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), was initiated at Arkansas State University in 1989. The 60-day program is targeted to economically disadvantaged 14- and 15-year-olds who are on grade level and have been identified as being likely to drop out of high school, but are not…

The goal of the FOCUS project is the development and implementation of an alternative school program for high school students which will provide relevant opportunities for student growth, both personal and academic, and thereby reduce the number of dropouts, academic failures, and pupil indifference and disenchantment. Part I of the document deals…

A program entitled Project COPS (Career Oriented Peer Tutoring System) is a comprehensive peer tutoring and advisement approach that was undertaken to improve student retention at Middlesex County College in Edison, New Jersey. The principal goal of the project was to reach potentially unsuccessful entering freshmen students and to offer them…

Ranken Technical College, a small, private, non-profit, two-year technical college in St. Louis, developed a plan whereby at-risk students would be flagged, their needs assessed, and programs put into place to meet those needs. The desired result was a higher retention rate, especially among minorities. The following components were found to be…

This report describes four programs identified as fitting the criteria of a program that bridges the worlds of learning, earning, and adulthood for all students. "Overview: Making School Work for All Students" (Linda Chion-Kenney) provides background and describes criteria to be met by schools serving needs of vocational students.…

This report evaluates the effectiveness of the Attendance Improvement Dropout Prevention (AIDP) program during the 1987-88 school year, which provided services to New York City (New York) middle school students at risk of becoming truant or dropping out of school. Chapter 1, "Introduction," contains the following sections: (1)…

Designed as an alternative program to reduce absenteeism in four high schools in the Bronx, a career education and academic upgrading experiment placed sixty ninth graders in a special area of Bronx Community College. The students, recruited from among disadvantaged potential dropouts (mostly blacks and Hispanics), attended half-day sessions at…

This case study describes a 2-year (1988-90) demonstration dropout prevention program, a collaboration between a rural school and a university. The dropout prevention program attempts to identify effective teaching strategies that will increase the academic successes of at-risk sixth-grade students and expand the use of those strategies among the…