The purpose of this proposed study was to address the issue of the effectiveness of community college retention programs, particularly their impact on poor or low-income students. Indeed, this study sought to identify actions and events that contributed to students choosing to drop out and the positive impact that college retention programs did or…

Students drop out of school because of a variety of family, economic, and racial factors that can be categorized as either alienation, lack of motivation, or disadvantage. The key to reducing the dropout rate is helping youth to overcome their sense of disconnection. Students with low motivation to attend school have shown improvement in school…

This is an external evaluation of the "Career Education and High School Completion Project for Girls and Young Women" at the Crownpoint (New Mexico) Institute of Technology (CIT). The project, funded by the federal Women's Educational Equity Act Program (WEEAP), targeted primarily Navajo females age 18 and under in grades 7 through 12…

This study examined characteristics of programs in which students were enrolled to determine which activities were most effective in dealing with dropouts. The study attempted to validate program components that have previously been associated with retentive capacity. Seventy-six exemplary programs for dropouts were selected to participate in the…

Vocational Village was opened by the Portland (Oregon) School District in 1968 to provide opportunities for students who had not been successful in traditional high school programs. A basic concept of the programs initiated at Vocational Village was the desire to personalize and individualize instruction. However, as operations got under way it…

The Street Academies discussed in this evaluation report are considered to represent outstanding attempts to develop positive culturally different instructional models, rather than the compensatory deficit disadvantaged models that are utilized by regular school programs. Seven chapters discuss the background of the Academies, purposes and…

In 1993-94, the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) allocated money to four operations areas for five dropout prevention programs for overage ninth graders. Three of the five area dropout programs had positive effects on the dropout rates of students served. The dropout rates for these programs were lower than the sixth six-weeks…

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.…

High school noncompletion is a complex problem that requires complex solutions that schools are often inhibited from implementing quickly. Alternative educational services are often necessary for students who are able to complete high school but who find school an unrewarding place in which to learn. A loose network of public and private programs…

Results of a process evaluation of dropout prevention programs in the Leon County (Florida) School District during the school year 1989-90 are presented. Altogether, 11 dropout programs were operationalized in that school year. The methodology used for developing a problem and benefit survey among teachers and administrators, the results of the…

The Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) was heralded as a major overhaul of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) program. Five years after passage of JTPA, the answer to the question of whether it has indeed managed to remedy CETA's shortcomings appears to be an unequivocal maybe. Although the JTPA has been praised by numerous…

This annotated resource list is intended to help state and local administrators of vocational special needs programs, special needs educators, counselors, researchers, and policy makers develop or improve programs and services for at-risk youth and adults. The list is not intended to be exhaustive but to list resources that are representative of…