Many studies have highlighted the capacity of community arts programs to re-engage those young people considered at-risk of disconnection from future education and/or employment. "Evolution" is an artist-guided visual arts program established for young people challenged by mental health and social issues that aims to foster re-engagement…

Peer Resources is at the heart of positive youth development. Trained youth serving in roles such as mentor, tutor, mediator, leader, and educator can change the norms of a school and community. Utilizing people as resources is an important concept to embrace. During the last seven years, peer mentors have reduced the drop-out rate of 16- and…

Purpose: Many students do not benefit from mainstream education and are forced to leave it. Governments and non-government organisations concerned with the social injustice and problems that such rejection could cause offer these students second-chance education programmes. This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of such opportunities, using…

It is now mandatory for English schools to ensure that young people, under 16 years of age, who are excluded from school are placed in an education and training programme within 12 days. The programme must be at least half time, and should offer a meaningful and balanced curriculum. The "Every Child Matters" agenda also suggests that…

In December 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave MDRC a grant to conduct reconnaissance on promising strategies to reengage disconnected young people and improve their long-term outcomes. The primary objective of the grant was to identify key leverage points for future investment by government and foundations. MDRC consulted with…

Concludes that students who had previously experienced failure in traditional school settings and had poor attitudes toward school could make significant academic achievement in an alternative school program and could develop more positive feelings about school. (Author/RL)

This working paper examines the approaches, wisdom, and experience generated by the ChalleNGe program, as well as the vast storehouse of knowledge and research, models and systems possessed by the military services that are potentially applicable to educating and developing youngsters who are at greatest risk of academic failure, economic…

The purpose of this evaluation is to provide formative Information about selected Orange County Public Schools (CPS) dropout prevention and retrieval programs. The following seven alternative learning programs were evaluated: School-Within-a-School; Alternative Resource Elementary Classrooms; The Challenge Center; The Plaza Center; BETA and ACEPT…

The Career Intern Program is an alternative school for dropouts and potential dropouts, which enables these students to complete high school, improve their basic skills, and acquire occupational knowledge. This report briefly describes the program and its students, presents 1975 evaluation results, and lists critical features necessary for…

Project Return, a dropout recovery program to assist pregnant and parenting teenagers and parents of elementary school children to return to school, was first implemented in 1989-90, and by 1993-94 had expanded to serve 19 sites in New York City. The Babygram Hospital Outreach program, an outgrowth of Project Return, operated in 12 hospitals and…

Project Return, a dropout recovery program to assist pregnant and parenting teenagers and parents of elementary school children to return to school, was first implemented in 1989-90. By 1991-92, there were two components of Project Return: its community education initiative in seven elementary schools, and the Babygram Hospital Outreach Program…

The Kumtuks program, an alternative rehabilitation program established by the Vancouver School Board in 1976 for Native Indian students, is described. Kumtuks was established to retain students between grades 6 and 9 when the drop-out rate among Native Indian students is the highest. The results of the evaluation of the first two years (1976-78),…

The document presents 19 essays which explore the growth of international relations (IR) as a field of intellectual inquiry and evaluate dilemmas currently facing IR. Authors were selected on the basis of involvement with midcareer students while participating in overseas graduate programs of the Schools of International Relations at the…

The purpose of this practicum was to develop, implement, and evaluate a two-way communication program for Del Paso High School. The overall goal was to create an ever-increasing circle of people well informed about the school--an ambiance, an environment of knowledge and understanding. Relying on the experience and examples of other administrators…

From July 1995 through September 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Ford Foundation (Ford) operated a demonstration of the Quantum Opportunity Program (QOP). QOP offered intensive and comprehensive services to help at-risk youth graduate from high school and enroll in postsecondary education or training. QOP was mainly an…