This book is the result of a series of workshops designed for school personnel desiring to improve educational programs for disadvantaged youth and potential dropouts. The workshops were conducted at Cornell University during the summer of 1964 through 1967. The chapters in this book on milieu, basic issues, dropout problems, counseling the…

In recent years a number of new institutions; i.e., "street academies", have been established to educate students who have dropped out or are prone to drop out of inner city secondary schools. There is reason to believe that many of these schools have been successful with youths who had not succeeded before, and therefore that lessons might be…

The self-concept of minority youth serves as the organizing focus for this paper. The various social and cultural forces which converge on this population are highlighted, as are the resulting deficiencies: (1) poor self-image; (2) frustration about high school; and (3) limited ability to communicate. A special program at the Casa Grande, Arizona…

The Academic Assistance System (AAS) at Rio Hondo College in California is the early academic warning system that flags students in academic trouble. The AAS aims to assist these at-risk students through counseling, time management/study skills workshops, tutoring, and other programs. Students who received early warning letters and who responded…

Students' decisions to complete high school or to drop out are interpreted as rational in terms of their perceptions of the relative payoffs and costs of educational attainment. High school completion rates relate positively to comparative post-high school economic and educational opportunities and negatively to the costs of schooling. (AF)

Examines the effects of state policy, sociodemographic composition, and school structure on high school dropout rates in 1980. Reports that total educational expenditures per students' average daily attendance is a significant determinant of school structure with indirect effect on dropout rates. Concludes that family structure is a critical…

Describes a study applying the Tinto Model to predict student persistence/exit in a community college setting. A questionnaire assessing background, environmental, and integration variables was administered to full-time students during their first semester, successfully predicting subsequent persistence/exit behavior and affirming the utility of…

Examined the effects of individual characteristics and types of parental involvement on participation in advanced mathematics from grades 8-12. Data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth indicated that mathematics participants had higher socioeconomic status than dropouts at every grade level. Gender, attitude, and achievement affected…

The focus is on strategies used by 10 urban districts to reduce school dropouts. Thirty-eight strategies for dropout prevention were identified. Although the majority identified dropout prevention strategies, only two districts referred to "recovery programs." If district spokespersons mentioned their CEOs using a systems approach in…

The indicators and predictors of dropout as documented in the literature are vast and encompass influences such as family, motivation, socio-economic status, and academic achievement, and could be accepted as universal reasons students choose to leave school and not return. This qualitative study investigated the reasons why students in one West…

The primary purpose of this descriptive survey research study was to examine the recruitment and retention practices of K-12 public school principals. The perceptions and attitudes of current principals towards recruitment and retention practices were investigated. The research questions guiding this study examined (a) principals' attitudes…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Change Strategies and includes: (1) YA! Es Tiempo--The Courage to Connect (Maria "Cuca" Robledo Montecel); (2) Making…

Over the past decade, Americans have become increasingly concerned about the high numbers--and costs--of high school dropouts. The time is now to build a similar consensus around this less-recognized but equally urgent fact: The pool from which employers, colleges, and the military draw is too small, and still shrinking, because millions of…

In this article, the author explores some particularly "luminous" paradoxes that have emerged from qualitative material gathered as part of an ethnographic study carried out over the last five years. The research, now a doctoral study, grew initially out of the author's own contradictory experiences of running learning provision in the…

Alcohol abuse and alcohol-related use problems among adolescents are highly prevalent and are a major concern worldwide. This study estimated the prevalence of drug abuse, knowledge about drug abuse and its effect on psychosocial well-being and induced behavioral problems among students of a public rural secondary school that admitted both girls…