This article examines access to and exclusion from basic education in Ghana over the period 1991-2006, using data derived from the Ghana Living Standards Surveys. It uses the CREATE "zones of exclusion" model to explore schooling access outcomes within the framework of the household production function. Empirical findings indicate that…

This paper discusses a pilot study of the effects of a curriculum focus intervention on students' prealgebra achievement. Elements of the intervention include identification of high-priority learning objective; structured repeatable testing; and a coherent, rubric-based feedback component. This research differs from traditional mastery learning…

School disengagement and dropout prevention are important areas of inquiry in today's educational environment. School counselors can have dramatic impact on student engagement and retention. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of a peer helper program on disengagement and dropout. The researchers implemented a comprehensive,…

Quinsigamond Community College's (QCC's) Adult Community Learning Center is located in Worcester, Massachusetts, and offers ESOL and ABE/GED classes to students who reside in Worcester and the surrounding towns (urban area). Its ABE/GED program has historically had low retention and persistence. Students often left before the end of the year or…

The University of West Georgia implemented a successful research-based initiative, Project DEW (Developing eCore Winners) to improve retention in its eCore courses. eCore courses are those offered through a collaborative University System of Georgia program, and includes courses required to complete the first two years of an undergraduate degree.…

First-generation college students comprise a substantial proportion of the entire college student population. Despite the increasing likelihood of college enrollment among students whose parents did not attend college, first-generation students are at higher risk of failure than are their nonfirst-generation peers. Also, residents of the…

The present study aimed to explore the various constraints faced by orthopaedically challenged women in their way towards higher education in Indian society. The tools used for the investigation are the General Information Schedule (GIS), Socioeconomic Schedule, and Interview Schedule. The sample consisted of 100 orthopaedically challenged women…

In recent years, the application of Information Technologies (IT) has fostered a tremendous growth in e-learning courses at colleges and universities in the United States. Subsequently, some colleges and universities have reported dropout rates of over 60% in e-learning courses. This research investigated persistence in e-learning courses of 187…

This article reports that education leaders in Los Angeles, faced with unrelenting pressure to raise anemic high school graduation rates, are turning to YouTube, MySpace, text messaging, and the radio waves to reach students at risk of dropping out of school and lure back thousands who have already left. The Los Angeles Unified School…

Student retention is an ongoing issue for most engineering programmes in the United States. Although engineering continues to be regarded as a promising profession, many students beginning in an engineering programme will not successfully complete their engineering studies. In an attempt to understand student perceptions of issues that relate to…

Before 1997, education was a way for young French men to avoid military service in the army. After the abolition of compulsory conscription in 1997, this incentive to stay on in education disappeared. We show that the decrease in the benefit of pursuing education for men was followed by a fall in their educational achievement relative to women and…

The high dropout rate in urban high schools, particularly among poor and racial minority youth, continues to be a vexing problem confronting public education in the U.S. Although much research and many prevention efforts have been devoted to this issue, dropout rates continue to soar. In this article, the authors present a case study analysis of…

This study examined the relationship between alliance and retention in family therapy. Alliance was examined at the individual (parent, adolescent) and family level (within-family differences) for families that either dropped out or completed family therapy. Participants were 31 Hispanic adolescents and their family members who received brief…

Serious reading problems exist among adolescent learners, as evidenced by declining national reading scores and increased dropout rates. Teachers can reverse this downward spiral by using the "scaffolded reading experience" (SRE) in their instruction. SRE is an organizational framework that secondary teachers may use to integrate the reading…

This report examines current practices in defining, identifying, documenting, and tracking school dropouts in Ogden City School District (Utah), as well as demographic and personal characteristics of Ogden's high school dropouts. Data collection included a review of school and district records, interviews with administrators and staff, and…