We investigated the link between migration, family structure, and the risk of dropping out of upper secondary school in Mexico. Using two waves of the Mexican Family Life Survey, which includes 1,080 upper secondary students, we longitudinally modeled the role of family structure in the subsequent risk of dropping out, focusing on the role of…

Malawi was the first sub-Saharan African country to take a bold decision and declare free primary education after the Jomtien conference in 1990. Fourteen years after the policy was first implemented no serious attempt has been made to find out what has happened to the influx of pupils joining the system. Using secondary sources of data, this…

Student attrition from distance and limited-residency doctoral programs is significantly higher than that from traditional programs. The focus of this paper is the development and application of a survey instrument, the "Doctoral Student Connectedness Scale", designed to identify students at risk of dropout. The study focused exclusively on…

This article examines student departure from university, based on data from a survey of undergraduate university students in Norway conducted in 2005. The survey maps students' progression through higher education, and the analysis focuses on the different types of departure and their causes. More than 50% of all university students left the…

Education beyond traditional ages for schooling is an important source of human capital accumulation among adult women. Welfare reform, which began in the early 1990s and culminated in the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, has promoted work rather than educational acquisition for this group.…

This report describes the reasons for which Johnston High School students left the district between November and the end of the 2006-2007 school year.

This paper describes some of the consequences of introducing a face-to-face contact during an online collaborative learning session. Previous research on the development of online groups has suggested a critical transition period at the midpoint of a collaborative task in which group members redefine their behavior. The purpose of the present…

Roughly 3.8 million people in the United States between the ages of 18 and 24 are neither in school nor employed, according to the National League of Cities. That translates to one in six adults in this age group. Many organizations, forums, national advocacy groups, and the like use the term disconnected youth when approaching this subject. Some…

How to reduce university drop-out is a topic of increasing concern. Although several measures have been the subject of numerous debates, little attention has been given to those impacting on the duration, structure and content of the supply of university education. This paper looks at the Italian experience to see what can be learnt about the…

When estimating causal effects from observational data, it is desirable to approximate a randomized experiment as closely as possible. This goal can often be achieved by choosing a subsample from the original control group that matches the treatment group on the distribution of the observed covariates. However, sometimes the original control group…

Improving retention in adult literacy programs is of great concern for both instructors and administrators. A learner-centered program is a must for improving retention. In such a program, a support system for learners should be readily accessible. Instruction should be based on students' goals, and program staff should be available to help…

The problems associated with truancy and failure to complete school in the state of Maine were examined by an advisory committee of legislators and personnel from schools, prisons, and state government. The committee was directed to describe the incidence of the truancy and dropping out, to ascertain some of the causes of these problems, and to…

This West Virginia community resource guide discusses the growing crisis of school dropouts, reviews some of the consequences of dropping out of school, and provides guidance for schools and communities who seek to initiate a dropout prevention program. After an introductory overview of the dropout problem; the human, health, and educational…

A questionnaire survey sought to determine the characteristics of part-time university students in Great Britain, the reasons why they choose part-time study, the difficulties they encounter, the extent and incidence of non-completion, and to identify examples of "good practice" in the provision and management of part-time degree…

This report outlines plans to reduce the dropout rate of Detroit (Michigan) Public Schools from the present 45% to 34% by 1990. First, current efforts to improve pupil learning experiences and reduce the dropout rate are listed. These are divided into three types: (1) early interventions (identification of adjustment or learning problems and…