This investigation sought to determine when colleges should conduct assessments to identify first-year students at risk of dropping out. Thirty-five variables were used to predict the persistence of 2,024 first-year students from four universities in the southeastern United States. The predictors were subdivided into groups according to when they…

There are tensions within formal education between imparting knowledge and the development of skills for handling that knowledge. In the primary school sector, the latter can also be squeezed out of the curriculum by a focus on basic skills such as literacy and numeracy. What happens when an explicit attempt is made to develop young children's…

The Graduate First initiative was implemented to address the dropout crisis among students with disabilities in the state of Georgia, who continue to demonstrate a rate of attrition twice that of their non-disabled peers (Georgia Department of Education [GA DOE], 2010). This mixed method case study explored the perceptions and experiences of a…

Finland has performed, as one of the first Bologna countries, a national evaluation of the outcomes of the implementation of the Bologna process. The evaluation was organized by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council and performed by an independent expert group during 2010. In general, the reform was conceived as a significant development…

The vocational education and training (VET) sector is a major pathway to post-school education for indigenous students, yet questions are being raised about the capacity of the VET system to provide successful outcomes for the indigenous apprentices and trainees it attracts. Within a system plagued by high cancellation rates in general, indigenous…

Across the nation, school policymakers are grappling with what to do about the increasing numbers of students who do not advance beyond ninth grade. National estimates put the student attrition rate before tenth grade at between 11 and 33 percent, and only about 70 percent of ninth graders make it to graduation. This policy brief focuses on one…

Examines the relation of race, sex, financial aid, grades, and American College Test composite scores to college freshman attrition/persistence (dropping out vs continued enrollment). (RL)

"Check & Connect" is a dropout prevention strategy that relies on close monitoring of school performance, as well as mentoring, case management, and other supports. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviewed six studies on "Check & Connect" that were designed to assess the program's effectiveness. Four of these studies…

"A Vision for the Future," a comprehensive long-range plan to develop, implement, and evaluate a multipart program to reduce the dropout rate in the Charleston, South Carolina, school district, is described in this report. Goals and objectives are presented, followed by a description of 18 intervention strategies. Components of the plan…

The results of the first semester's work of the Withdrawal Office of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, are presented in four reports. A brief historical overview and introduction by Deborah Hazel Johnson describes the objectives of implementing a withdrawal procedure, the purposes of the Withdrawal Office, and procedures that were used…

Specific goals of this study of the national dropout problem are to: (1) define the problem; (2) identify demographic characteristics of dropouts; (3) describe economic and social consequences; (4) identify programs and practices that prevent students from dropping out; (5) identify federal and state initiatives; and (6) identify private sector…

The analysis of proposed or implemented programs for increasing the achievement of at-risk students in all grades is the purpose of this report. Its focus is on identifying effective organizational responses, programs, and practices that improve the achievement of all at-risk children. Schools currently respond to poor academic performance with…

This paper reports on the first phase of a three-part study meant to provide information, in an expanded context, for decisions related to marketing communications at Western Iowa Tech Community College (WITCC). The Marketing Department proposed focus groups to examine dropouts, students who are admitted but do not enroll, and business persons in…

Attrition rates at the State University of New York at Oswego are investigated in this paper. In 1975-76 51 percent of the students who entered as freshmen failed to graduate. The major objective of the study was to isolate and describe the differences that exist in the rates and modes of attrition among students who entered the college as…

A potentially useful program-evaluation approach obtains information from program dropouts. This method was applied to university students who dropped out of four developmental programs. Results indicate many students recognize the value of the program for others, yet resist participating themselves. This approach was a useful supplementary…