The school dropout rate in America is too high, especially for low-income students and those from nondominant racial or ethnic groups. For many students, the social-psychological and behavioral disengagement from school that leads to dropping out often begins in middle school. Research on early adolescents confirms that increasing the perceived…

The General Educational Development (GED[R]) Tests, established in 1945, helped determine soldiers' high school qualifications for the workforce, as they returned home from WWII. Because many soldiers dropped out of school to join the military, achieving a certain score on the test was a way for them to demonstrate that they had attained high…

This is a report of a forty-four month investigation in which three curricular approaches to rehabilitating school dropouts were evaluated under experimental conditions. Program participants were school dropouts between the ages of 17 and 22, and the program was conducted in a large urban high school. The findings of the study were: (1)…

Compared aptitude, vocational, and personality measures of high school dropouts with those of a normative population. Also studied the relative contribution of selected variables to achievement. Suggests that achievement motivation, social class, and the institutional impact of the school must be examined to identify reasons for academic failure.…

Efforts addressed at the pervasive school dropout problem in New York City received a boost in 1978 with the development of large scale, centrally initiated programs to reduce the number of high school dropouts. Based on the recommendations of two studies, the New York City Board of Education's Division of High Schools established outreach centers…

After questioning the credential value of the high school diploma at the present time and pointing out the need for considering the multiple psychological and social handicaps of the minority-group school dropout, this conference paper discusses (1) the rentention power of the schools, (2) youth employment, (3) equal job opportunities for Negroes,…

This study presents survey data for 1971-72 on young Australian people aged 15-24 who leave school. Members of the armed forces, diplomatic personnel, the institutionalized, and those reported as permanently unable to work are not included. Data are collated on slightly less than 110,000 dropouts, and do not represent the detail sought by many…

This document describes a program developed and implemented in three Philadelphia schools for the purpose of reducing the number of dropouts at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels. A needs assessment of the three schools, a review of the related literature, and the objectives of the program are provided. Specific strategies…

The High School Redirection Program was designed to maintain 240 potential dropouts in an educational-vocational setting while assisting them to progress toward a high school diploma. Students were admitted from 13 high schools in Brooklyn and from Andrew Jackson in Queens. They were to follow a work-study program through the summer and regular…

The main stated purpose of this project is to send 100 Family Assistants who are familiar with the community into the homes of senior high school students who show serious problems in school attendance, adjustment, and/or achievement. The project is designed to provide a link between home and school for 15,000 such potential dropouts by having the…

A study examined experiences of early leavers in the United States (US) and Australia in the first two years beyond high school. Data were from these comparable longitudinal surveys: US data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988; Australian data from the 1975 cohort of the Youth in Transition surveys. Findings indicated similar…