The purpose of the Early Elementary Attendance Project was to improve school attendance in the early grades (kindergarten and first grade) in order to develop good attendance habits that would continue through the post elementary grades. A home/school worker approached families of students (N=77) with poor attendance records with a helping…

This paper results from the collaborative work of Research for Better Schools, Inc., with the state staffs of Pennsylvania and Maryland on the problem of students at risk. It highlights the ways in which the problem is being defined, the data sets that are being used to suggest the magnitude of the problem, and the studies that are being used to…

In June, 1987, the San Juan (California) Unified School District's Research and Evaluation Department prepared a summary of dropout data available which indicated that San Juan's dropout rate was between 22 and 25 percent over a 3-year period. In the fall of 1987, the department conducted a study of the characteristics of students who had dropped…

Results of questionnaires (n=5,000) mailed to college dropouts indicate that: (1) most students left their freshman year; (2) they did not discusss their decision with university personnel; and (3) their reasons were academic difficulties, personal-emotional problems, and external-environmental pressures. (Author)

Michael Scott, starting from the bottom as a dropout and using the Job Corps, the Marines, the State Employment Service, the Veterans Administration, and the Manpower Development and Training Act (MDTA), has moved up from trainee at the MDTA Skill Center to office manager. (BP)

The Preliminary Unit Pack (PUP) experiment was an attempt to identify non-starters in correspondence education early in the program stages. An initial pack of resources sent to enrollees was reduced in size and a response to this material required prior to formal enrollment. A reduction of the non-starter rate was achieved in the experimental…

The report describes the Out-of-School Youth Program, a vocationally oriented program serving 250 handicapped student dropouts in St. Paul, Minnesota, and presents a model program for handicapped out of school youth based on that existing program. The model program consists of components that focus on the following areas: basic skills,…

INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS, AS DO MOST DROPOUT STUDIES, THIS ONE (1) CONSIDERS SPECIFIC INSTITUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GRADING PRACTICES, (2) ANALYZES THESE PRACTICES WITHIN A GIVEN TERM INSTEAD OF OVER SEVERAL YEARS, AND (3) BROADENS THE DEFINITION OF ATTRITION TO INCLUDE BOTH FAILURE AND WITHDRAWAL. IT ATTEMPTS TO IDENTIFY…

THIS SURVEY, PREPARED TO DISCOVER HOW TO REDUCE STUDENT DROPOUT RATES, FOUND THE FOLLOWING GENERAL AREAS OF SIGNIFICANT DISSATISFACTION--(1) PERSONAL COUNSELING AND ACADEMIC ADVISEMENT, (2) INSTRUCTION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES, ENGLISH, AND BUSINESS, AND (3) STUDENT ACTIVITIES. OTHER, LESS CRITICAL AREAS NEEDING IMPROVEMENT WERE ALSO DISCLOSED. TABLES…

This dissertation investigated various aspects of the problems experienced by many Azorean immigrant children in the U.S., who, having reached an age when formal education is no longer legally compulsory for them, drop out of school. It focused on family values, possible influence of a language problem, relevancy of the educational process to…

This study sought to determine whether significant differences exist between successful students and dropouts in terms of mean grade point averages (g.p.a.'s) in each college department, and to ascertain composite course evaluation patterns on an intra- and inter-divisional basis. The students involved in this study were the same as those who were…

This study attempted to distinguish high school dropouts from non-dropouts by the use of discriminant analysis from data obtained in a dropout intervention project. The variables examined were taken from data forms used in the project and based on past literature on the subject of high school dropout prevention. It was found that significant…

Answer to how long it takes to get a junior college (2-year) degree; the percentage of the total enrollment who drop out without completing one hour for credit; the average number of hours taken, or completed, by a student; and the percentage of students expected to complete one quarter successfully provided the central themes for this study. The…

The purpose of this investigation was to relate causes for dropping out of college to a wide range of characteristics of both the students and the institutions involved. Specifically, it aimed to identify entrance characteristics of types of college dropouts related to their sex and the institution's environmental presses. Comprehensive data were…

The author discusses results from various studies that demonstrate the link between dropping out of high school and youth unemployment. Factors influencing the decision to quit school are discussed, as well as differences between female and male dropouts' labor market success. (CH)