Previous studies have examined patterns of withdrawal from initial teacher education (ITE) programs and have found that pre-service teachers are more likely to withdraw if they are male or older than the typical pre-service teacher. This study presents case studies based on semi-structured interviews with older male pre-service teachers who…

This Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study represents a collaboration with six students from alternative education to inquire about the experiences of vulnerable youth--students in alternative education and youth who have dropped out of school. Utilizing the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique, youth researchers asked their peers what…

Using longitudinal data of 18-to 20-year-old youths from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS), the present analysis identified and profiled Canadian postsecondary education dropouts based on the theoretical framework of Tinto (1993). Pertaining to characteristics of pre-postsecondary education conditions, dropouts tended to be male, set low…

Researchers focused upon the work-dropping out connection tend to show a U-shaped relationship between the likelihood of dropping out and the number of hours worked outside school, with a higher exit rate for both non-working students and for students whose working hours pass a critical threshold. Yet the data typically used by these researchers…

This article provides an overview of vocational education and training (VET) at the secondary level in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, describes the basic guiding principles of VET policies in these provinces and then examines how young people's trajectories may or may not be in harmony with these policy directions. We argue that…

Data analysis is critical to educational planning. Determining the number of school leavers is crucial for a school board when planning for interventions and supports. In researching the number of early school leavers in the province of Prince Edward Island, the method in which the data were reported affected the rates. Two critical considerations…

The main aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of why students abandon their studies, or perform less well than expected given their high school grades, and to develop predictive models that can help identify those students most at-risk at the time they enter college. This will allow teachers and those responsible for student…

Treats the proportion of dropouts from secondary schools as leading indicators of the educational system's performance and reviews the use of certain variables for the prediction of dropout flows. The underlying relationships are studied in the form of a two-equation econometric model. (Author/IRT)

Results of questionnaires (n=5,000) mailed to college dropouts indicate that: (1) most students left their freshman year; (2) they did not discusss their decision with university personnel; and (3) their reasons were academic difficulties, personal-emotional problems, and external-environmental pressures. (Author)

Dropout classification systems must be standardized, updated, and simplified to accurately reflect conditions of student departures from school; current, nonstandardized systems allow gathered data to be biased and of poor quality. Improvements will inform administrators of the specific causes behind students' early withdrawals--whether students…

The ability of every student to successfully complete high school is fundamental to continued success and quality of life. As such, Alberta Learning's 2000-2003 Business Plan has set a target for improving high school completion by 19-year-old students from 70% to 75%. A key step to achieving this target has involved completing a study of barriers…

The ability of every student to successfully complete high school is fundamental to continued success and quality of life. As such, Alberta Learning's 2000-2003 Business Plan has set a target for improving high school completion by 19-year-old students from 70% to 75%. A key step to achieving this target has involved completing a study of barriers…

Interviews over 3 years with 94 Canadian adult literacy students found that about half dropped out, with a higher drop-out rate among Canadian-born than among immigrant students. Dropout/persistence were related more to past school and home experiences than to educational level or motivation. Drop-out/persistence reasons were multifaceted and…

The study of Youth Transition into the Labour Market (YTLM) began several years ago in the spring of 1987. The project consists of two parallel yet interrelated studies, one focusing on the full cohort of approximately 9000 Level III high school students in Newfoundland and Labrador at the end of the 1988-89 school year, and a second, which…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent and some of the characteristics of learning by high school drop-outs. Subjects were 70 men and 71 women who were resident in the Borough of North York. (Author)