Describes an experimental, team-taught, low level ninth grade English class which emphasized writing. Discusses students, their writing, the use of journal writing, ability grouping, and what the classroom environment was like. Notes that students improved in all their other classes during the semester they spent in this class. (SR)

A survey of 251 North Dakota parents of learning-disabled students found that retention occurred twice as frequently for students with learning disabilities as for the general student population. Parents of retained students tended to have lower educational aspirations for their children than did parents of nonretained students. Discusses…

Suggests that music education by its nature is well suited to meeting the special needs of at-risk students. Discusses the role of music in motivating and enabling students to succeed. Defines the causes of failure as inability and lack of desire to learn when at-risk students receive the wrong kind of instruction. (DK)

Reviews the literature on technology applied to early interventions. Reports results from a study that compared instructor and advising staff effects on the impact of early alerts. States that the results cast doubt on early alerts as an effective tool to improve the performance of at-risk students. (AUTH)

This report presents findings from a 5-year study of the impact of educational reform on Texas students who are in situations that put them at risk of school failure or dropping out. Data were derived from three sources: a statewide survey of high school principals; a longitudinal analysis that tracked 1,800 at-risk high school students from…

"Planned", "artificial", or "formal" mentoring of students at risk of dropping out of high school has become an important component of many school systems over the past few years. Mentoring of at risk students appears to have originated in the United States in the 1980's. In Canada, at risk student mentoring programs…

Administrators have many methods at their disposal to use in the struggle to control truancy. This paper describes the kinds of truancy-reduction efforts most commonly used: stringent laws and regulations (such as parental sanctions, zero credit, suspensions, and police intervention), inschool programs (the school-climate-improvement and the…

A "Parenting Girls Project" was operated within the Teenage Parent Program in the Owensboro City School System, Kentucky. Objectives involved continuation and expansion strategies: raising student assessment scores in parenting attitudes on the Performance and Attitudinal Scale (PAS), increasing student assessment scores in career…

Faced with alarming dropout rates, educators must find ways to encourage students at risk of dropping out to remain in school. This book describes a variety of prevention programs based on partnerships between universities and local elementary and secondary schools. Among the innovative approaches were combining education and social services in…

This book examines the thesis that teacher burnout and student dropout stem from the same source, a process of alienation causing students and teachers to "give up on school." The first chapter outlines the size of the problem and some of the specific conditions that contribute to it. The second chapter examines the context of cultural…

A study assessed the underlying dynamics of attendance rates of secondary school special education students at risk for dropping out. Seventy-eight mildly disabled special education students enrolled in an urban work readiness program were interviewed to assess the effects of job and affective skill training on their attitudes toward school. Only…

This paper discusses several demographic, economic, and technological trends with implications for rural education and dropout rates in the coming decades. As the American population ages, the focus of public policy will shift from youth services to health, safety, and environmental issues. This shift is likely to result in lower levels of funding…

This paper analyzes the value of student retention practices, or of flunking students, and presents viable options. Advocates of retention argue that it prevents future academic failure, ensures mastery of the basic skills necessary for success in higher grades, and motivates students. However, others argue that retention is associated with…

This research summary examines the policies and issues that affect the school dropout problem among youth with disabilities. It clarifies the dropout problem, examines government and school policies that affect school holding power, and recommends responses. Information is based on a current dropout prevention research project, findings from five…

A multidimensional perspective is provided of the achievement and educational experiences elementary school students of Mexican origin in a major northern city. To deepen understanding of the complex interplay of factors that ultimately cause many of these students to become educational casualties, traditional research methods of ethnography were…