This study attempts to determine the effect of sequential language programs on motivating students to remain enrolled in their programs. Two language programs in the State of Utah are compared in these areas: (1) philosophy of articulation, (2) sequence of courses, (3) textbooks used, (4) registration procedures, (5) statement of FLES program, (6)…

The Diversified Satellite Occupations Program Career Development sought to prevent dropout through these strategies: registration at a school situation away from the normal school setting, creation of a close teacher-student relationship, and raise achievement levels and lower anxiety levels. Program emphases at elementary, junior and senior high…

A path analysis of the relationship of student background, precollege academic factors, occupational and educational aspirations, institutional characteristics, college performance, and financial assistance to student persistence found that students receiving aid were more likely than others to complete their degrees, and that aid has the third…

A Montana study of 46 Native American high school dropouts found salient factors were perceived irrelevance/cultural insensitivity of curricula, perceived teacher indifference/failure to help with students' work, desire to be with other dropouts, problems at home, and the requirement that students attend school for the entire senior year. (MH)

A study used focus groups and interviews to examine dropout causes among Hispanic middle and high school students in Hillsborough County, Florida. Major contributors to Latino student success included personal motivation to succeed, supportive parents, and being interested and involved in school activities. Factors contributing to dropout included…

A comparative study of early school leaving in India, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States found that in spite of huge cultural and economic differences between these countries, there were common underlying causes of the school dropout problem. Economic need, sociocultural divisions, curricula that were unrelated to future work and…

This report presents estimated data on the exit reasons for students with disabilities projected to leave Illinois public schools after the 1997-98 school year. The data were prepared by averaging the information provided by school districts regarding students who were no longer receiving special education services during the 1995-96 and 1996-97…

This study used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 and follow-up data collected in 1990, 1992, and 1994, to examine the characteristics and personal/educational factors related to gifted high school dropouts (n=3,520). Results indicate: (1) many gifted students left school because they were failing school, did not like…

As a response to the problems of nontraditional student attrition at two-year and four-year urban colleges, this paper introduces the constructs of career decision-making self-efficacy, perceived stress, and financial difficulty into a model built on the synthesis of Cabrera (1993). A questionnaire was administered to adult nontraditional (age 24…

This study, which is a companion to a study on 10-year enrollment and graduation patterns for new freshmen and transfers, sought to quantify how much more likely college students were to graduate if they were transfers, were enrolled continuously, were mostly full-time, and began their academic careers with good first-semester grade point averages…

This paper reviews research on best practices for preventing students with mild disabilities from dropping out of high school. Findings from the literature review indicate there is a consensus among the researchers that warning signs for school dropout among students with mild disabilities include: poor attendance, academic difficulties,…

The socioeconomic status of Canadian native students may be more important than cultural differences when explaining their high dropout rate. Disadvantaged native and nonnative students share many experiences that isolate them from the mainstream school culture, including placement of disadvantaged students into lower-track courses and…

Examines factors associated with persistence to a second term for 796 first time, two-year college students. Demographic variables correlated with low persistence were taking nondegree courses only, enrolling part time, working full time, and being over age 40. The only academic factor related to low persistence was a first term grade point…

To make educational assessments and comparisons meaningful, dropout data must be collected according to the same definitions, by the same procedures, and over the same time periods. A 31-state pilot project represents an effort by the National Center for Education Statistics to standardize data collection about high school completion. (SLD)

A study was conducted to measure the impact of the Virginia Community College System's (VCCS's) tuition increases on enrollment by randomly surveying students who had enrolled in the VCCS in fall 1991, but who had not enrolled for fall 1992. Some 76,191 of the 133,662 students enrolled in community colleges in fall 1991 did not re-enroll in fall…