This North Carolina handbook brings together the information needed by local school systems to plan, develop, and implement effective programs to keep students in school. These topics are included: (1) legislation and policy for the implementation of the State Dropout Prevention Fund; (2) program standards and performance indicators; (3) program…

This paper describes the first six months of activities and accomplishments of Commonwealth Futures, an initiative designed to provide services to at-risk youth in Massachusetts schools. Major activities are outlined chronologically, implementation problems and successes are briefly discussed, and projected future activities are listed. These…

The first part of this report on school dropouts summarizes the testimony at a hearing on dropouts given by: (1) Jacqueline P. Danzberger, The Institute for Educational Leadership; (2) Anthony Earl, former governor of Wisconsin; (3) Janice Earle, National Alliance of State Boards of Education; (4) Gloria Frazier, National Foundation for the…

Early socialization, cognitive differences, treatment by teachers, and curricular choices have a negative effect on both the self-esteem and academic achievement of young females. Program designers and policymakers should incorporate the following approaches into female dropout prevention programs: (1) academic encouragement; (2) counseling to…

A California Partnership Academy is a voluntary school-within-a-school program for at-risk high school students. The program is based on a partnership between a school district, local employers, and the California Department of Education. The following special features are outlined: (1) close partnership between the school and employers; (2) block…

The California Partnership Academies Program is a highly successful school/business collaboration that allows students who are at risk of not graduating from high school to see clearly the connection between school and the workplace. The following key components are discussed: (1) an at-risk student population made up largely of the educationally…

Executive and legislative branches of the New York State government have made consistent efforts to address the dropout problem, which is particularly acute in urban schools, through new initiatives and increased funding. State aid programs are summarized, and suggestions for improvement are provided. (SLD)

State legislation requires that the Texas Education Agency write a plan to reduce the state's cross-sectional and longitudinal dropout rates to no more than 5 percent by 1997-98. This report presents the current plan, with current aggregate and disaggregate data on the dropout rate of students in grades 7 through 12 and projections for…

This paper presents an analysis of a California state mandated effort to reduce dropout rates. In particular, the analysis looks at which program components and strategies are successful in increasing school holding power and what organizational and administrative factors are linked to the decision to actually implement the program as designed.…

An evaluation of a statewide dropout prevention strategy program with 13 prevention projects conducted by the Louisiana State Department of Education in the 1988-89 school year is presented. Both summative and process evaluations are described. The attitudes of 831 10th-grade students were measured using a pretest and posttest attitude survey…

In this report the Ohio Legislative Office of Education Oversight discusses five Ohio programs designed to serve at-risk high school students and examines their possible overlap. The report describes the goals, strategies, and structure of the following programs: (1) Occupational Work Experience (OWE), a 1-year vocational program of classroom…

Traces strategies for preventing high school dropouts from the traditional reliance on remediation or incentives to recent negative sanctions (e.g., West Virginia's "no school, no drive" law). The General Educational Development Program serves those who return voluntarily to school after having realized the importance of education. (JB)

A lack of education is a major cause of poverty among many Kentucky citizens. In 1986, Kentucky's dropout rate was the second highest of the 50 states. That same year, Kentucky established the Parent and Child Education (PACE) Program in an effort to combat the problems of insufficient education and poverty that tend to be perpetuated from…

This color-coded manual is a guide for local Michigan school districts and schools to meet the needs of children at risk, listing programs from across the state and designated information contact persons within each district. A foreword notes that the manual was developed from a statewide survey of all school districts designed to identify…

The New York City high schools participating in the 1989/90 Peer Tutoring Program demonstrated excellent performance in reaching program objectives. The Peer Tutoring Program serves high school students who have failed to achieve specified levels of achievement in mathematics, reading/writing, or English as a Second Language. Higher-achieving…