First-generation college students are students for whom neither parents, natural or adoptive, mother/ father/ guardian, have completed a four-year college degree. The students are more likely to be racial and ethnic minorities, female, immigrants, low income, enrolled part-time, and/or work more than 13 hours a week. Similarly, first-generation…

The documented study is a phenomenological form of interpretive research examining attrition in doctoral programs for persons from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. It sought to establish how students formulate reasons for quitting doctoral education---the cases being for doctorates in education. The study uses a sample of 33 former students…

Because almost one half of students enrolled in American doctoral programs do not complete their degrees, the factors that lead to doctoral student attrition need to be identified. Research suggests that the nature of the advisor-advisee relationship contributes to the persistence levels of doctoral students. In this study, we conducted a content…

College student retention has been and continues to be one of the most important issues facing the higher education community. Despite this importance, little is known about the type and methodological rigor of institutional efforts to increase student retention. This article presents the findings of a study which attempted to gain a clearer…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore salient nonacademic factors related to social, economic, and cultural aspects together with traditional academic factors that influenced college retention. The study design employed a mixed-methods sequential explanatory method design, collecting quantitative data for correlation and…

Nursing student attrition in community colleges negatively affects students, faculty, colleges, and the nursing profession. The purpose of this quantitative correlational retrospective research study was to examine the possible relationships between each of the independent variables of academic preparedness (as measured by NET mathematics and…

K12 Inc. enrolls more public school students than any other private education management organization in the U.S. Much has been written about K12 Inc. (referred to in this report simply as "K12") by financial analysts and investigative journalists because it is a large, publicly traded company and is the dominant player in the operation…

This report explores two questions: (1) What can be done to recover and reconnect young people to opportunities for building useful lives in work, family, and citizenship? and (2) Who is doing what, and where, to reengage out-of-school youth while working to strengthen the communities in which they live? Focusing on the positive, the American…

The transition from middle school to high school represents a significant event in the lives of adolescents, one that necessitates support from and collaboration among teachers, parents, counselors, and administrators at both educational levels. Successful transitions place particular emphasis on ninth-grade initiatives and can create one of…

The suspension of Pennsylvania's educational employees due to declining enrollment is examined in this paper. The controversy over whether teacher suspension should be based on seniority or on evaluation criteria has resulted in intervention by the judicial system to establish legal precedents for reduction-in-force policy. Methodology is based on…

Attrition is a consistent feature of higher education--only about half the students who start college will ever receive a degree. The attrition rates of African-American students is even higher than that of their white counterparts. Attrition in general, and especially that of high risk students, is of great concern to university administrators…

This document summarizes droputs, transfers, and failures from the class of 1990 in Pennsylvania public schools. The total enrollment for Pennsylvania public schools in 1986-87 was 139,761, in 1987-88 was 133,449, in 1988-89 was 123,717, and in 1989-90 was 115,400. Over 40% of Black and Hispanic students who were in regular ninth-grade classes in…

Characteristics of 521 Mansfield State College students participating in Pennsylvania's Equal Education Opportunity Program were studied during 1978-1982. The program, which was enacted by Act 101 in 1971, is designed to provide opportunities to educationally and economically disadvantaged populations. Findings include the following: 79 percent of…