Of 115 adult literacy students interviewed, 59 were contacted 8 months later to collect data on characteristics, academic and social integration, program and goal commitment, and withdrawal decisions. Factor and discriminant analyses identified 14 variables that accurately predicted the present status of 76 percent of completers, persisters, and…

This survey of a national sample of 451 deaf adolescents found that many factors predicting attrition in general education also apply to deaf education. These include individual ability, local educational values, and demographic traits. Regional differences were also found, with programs in the southeast and southwest losing more students than…

Perspective Discrepancy Assessments completed by a dean, 50 mentors, and 60 current and 35 former adult students, as well as interviews with 26 dropouts, found that the dean and mentors ranked remedial work, outside commitments, and financial aid as obstacles. However, dropouts cited mentors' lack of counseling experience, understanding of…

Argues that assessment, outcomes measurement, and prediction of attrition are separate but highly interrelated phenomena, with none meaningfully understood without reference to the other two. Suggests that the assessment process be the initial exercise, followed by periodic outcomes measurement used in conjunction with the assessment data to…

Evaluates results from the first phase of a UNICEF-Ministry of Education (Iran) Girls' Education Project aimed at reducing gender disparity in formal education at the primary level. Reports findings about why some girls remain out of primary school or fail to complete it. Describes the next two project phases. (DSK)

A logit model was developed, using historical data, to identify characteristics inherent in a college student's decision to withdraw from college. Once the model was derived, predicted probabilities of retention for an incoming freshman class were computed, and a program for monitoring high-risk students' progress was developed. (Author/MSE)

Mathematics questions from the General Certificate of Secondary Education, taken in England at the end of compulsory education, were incorporated into a similar Swedish national test. Significant national differences were found in scores of the lowest 40% of the cohort. Results are discussed in relation to high dropout and failure rates in English…

Examined the relationship between Latino high school students' conceptions of their futures and their school engagement. Data from interviews with 30 students indicated that there was considerable consistency in students' conceptions of the future, their understanding of the procedural knowledge necessary to actualize those futures, and the…

Used data from a panel of Baltimore students to describe the long-term process of disengagement from school that leads to high school dropout. Nearly half of the study group left school without a degree. There were significant differences across sociodemographic lines involving academic, parental, and personal resources. These resources also added…

The importance of connections with peers to student development and retention has been highlighted in Astin's (1984) "Theory of Student Involvement" and Tinto's (1993) "Theory of Student Departure," which are two of the most widely referenced and validated models in student affairs literature. However, recent research has questioned the…

Objective: The purpose of this study was to: (a) investigate differences in demographic variables and psychological variables between treatment completers and dropouts among abusive women in a treatment program for domestic violence offenders; and, (b) create a predictive model that would correctly identify women at greatest risk of dropping out…

This report explores factors influencing the persistence and graduation of students at New York City Technical College. Part 1 presents an overview of an 8-semester study conducted of 307 freshmen from September 1989 through June 1994, while part 2 describes the research procedure utilized, indicating that the following types of data were…

The everyday lives and the cultural identities of early school-leavers in the Republic of Ireland are explored, drawing up a political practice, a cultural politics, that relates to the position of early school-leavers. This practice is theorized within a poststructuralist and post-Marxist framework. Part 1 presents conversations with urban early…

An exploratory study examined the past and present participation in education of 34 parents enrolled in 5 model family literacy programs in North Carolina and Kentucky. All respondents were high school dropouts. Over half had dropped out of adult basic education classes before completing a high school equivalency certificate. The study focused on…

Most research on success in first-semester retention of college freshmen has looked either at performance in specific courses or at performance in a given course across all colleges. In the fall of 1997, Virginia Tech (Blacksburg) implemented a new academic eligibility policy, which defined success as earning an average grade of C or better. This…