Presents five goals of a policy and research agenda for dropout prevention: (1) to develop commonly accepted definition of dropout; (2) to improve methods of pupil accounting; (3) to separate causes and identifiers of at-risk behavior; (4) to analyze relevance of questions asked about at-risk youth; and (5) to engage in institutional…

The first section of this report provides information comparing selected dropout data from the Virginia State Department of Education's publication "Facing Up" for the years 1980-1985. The report states that the comparisons were made to show the need to continue efforts to reduce the number of dropouts and to provide programs for those…

Examines dropouts from U.S. high schools, with particular attention to gender, social class, and race/ethnicity. Considers dropping out as a critique of education and labor market conditions and looks at the portrayal of dropouts in the popular, social science, and teacher preparation literature. Examines a group of dropouts in New York City.(CMG)

This handbook synthesizes results of workshops organized by seven countries (India, Pakistan, Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam) on the dropout and underachievement problem. The objectives of these workshops were to: (1) design training strategies for reducing rates of dropping out and grade repetition; (2) develop plans and…

The 1983 North Carolina Dropout Study and the 1988 North Carolina Follow-Up Dropout Study were conducted to provide baseline dropout data for North Carolina public high schools, to provide estimates of dropout rates, and to explore possible factors contributing to a student's decision to leave high school. The results of the 1983 study indicated…

This report summarizes research on retention and dropouts. Although there has been a recent resurgence of retention programs aimed at students who encounter subject-area difficulties, many studies have questioned the value of retention, especially if it is not accompanied by programs of remediation and individualized learning. However, researchers…

Discusses the nonacademic problems which cause developmental education students at Dyke College, Cleveland, to interrupt their studies. Considers problems in four categories: financial, health, family responsibility, and involvement in litigation. (Author/DR)

This paper draws on path-like models of student attrition developed by researchers concerned with American higher education to suggest a process model of dropping out of school which is applicable to secondary schools. It notes that existing research on school dropouts has been conducted largely without the guidance of such a model. Central…

To address the important issue of dropouts from their schools, the Council of Great City Schools undertook a major research effort to make sense of the disparate ways in which cities keep their dropout data, and to advise various policy makers on the development of common metrics for measuring the problem. A survey of Council member schools…

The national dropout rate has remained at about 20% for the last decade. However, disparities in the definition of dropouts and in data collection have caused national dropout figures to vary. Researchers agree that students from areas of large minority populations with fewer English-speaking students, and those living in poverty are at risk of…

The study provides an overview of what national surveys and the literature say about school dropouts, defined as persons who are neither enrolled in school nor high school graduates. For the last decade, the dropout rate for youth age 16-24 has remained roughly the same, about 13-14 percent. Hispanics, Blacks, and economically and educationally…

This report is a summary of dropout rates for the 1980-81, 1981-82, and 1982-83 school years. From 1980 to 1983, dropout rates at individual schools ranged from 4.1 percent to 15.5 percent at regular high schools, 15.6 percent to 40.7 percent at continuation schools, and 12.1 percent to 50.3 percent in independent study programs at continuation…

This paper presents a study designed to determine the reason first and post-first year students (N=61) chose to leave Chicago Urban University (CUU) prior to graduation. Data were sought from a random sample of 100 students via either a mailed or a telephone survey, with a 61% response rate. The 54-question interview/survey instrument examined the…

This paper presents a four-fold typology developed as a general theory of student motivation to stay in school and work hard at learning tasks. Each of the four-fold categories is described with an initial statement of the specific source of student motivation, an analysis of how the source fits in more general motivational theories, and how the…

This report presents data from 25 school districts in Connecticut that were involved in dropout prevention planning programs in grades kindergarten through twelfth for the 1987-88 and 1988-89 school years. Each of these districts addresses the problems of both accounting for the dropout rate, and developing an effective and reliable method for the…