Emphasis on basis skills, standardized testing and curriculum standardization in alternative education programs creates the same conditions that originally lead students to drop out. Flexibility of alternative education programs is important. These nontraditional programs should exist as part of the many options that can meet the needs of…

Cites the high dropout rates for native students in Saskatchewan urban centers and suggests that the inner-city native alternative school may be the best way to return students to some form of education leading to eventual employment. Lists 17 "do's" and "don'ts" for effective alternative schools. (JHZ)

The executive committee of a combined sixth-year Baccalaureate-M.S. degree program instituted the administration of exit interviews to gain systematic information about why students leave the program prematurely. The committee hoped to assess the school's admissions procedures, its educational policies, and its student support services. (MLW)

Study showed that levels of repetition and dropping out in the primary schools of 121 countries in Africa, Asia and Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and the USSR from 1970 to 1980 remain very high. This educational wastage is costing a great deal of money. (RM)

Investigated whether dropouts and other students having difficulty with physics could be identified by including mathematics reasoning items along with mathematics skill items on a 13-item mathematics pretest and by using records of past performance in conjunction with the pretest. Sample included 483 students in an introductory, noncalculus,…

Institutions need to identify new ways to facilitate the return and adaption of students to higher education and its environment. The purpose of this article is to propose the Student Reentry Center as a timely and feasible plan to assist and encourage students in their reenrollment for academic study. (Author/NG)

This report presents the characteristics of students who failed in their first four-year college attempt, then transferred into community colleges, and subsequently moved on to a four-year college and succeeded. While the numbers who moved on through each stage dropped, they were large enough to identify recovery as a valuable community college…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) FY 2005 Budget Released: President Opens Door to High School Initiatives, but Disappoints School Districts by…

The reasons that students in the United Kingdom fail to complete General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQ) courses were examined through a study that involved four key elements: questionnaire survey of 3,391 students enrolled in GNVQ courses in further education colleges and schools; questionnaire survey of 782 centers providing GNVQs;…

Despite increased government investments in education, West Virginia continues to have one of the nation's highest high school dropout rates and is among the states with the highest unemployment rates. Human capital theory provides the conceptual basis for evaluating the relationship between investment in education and economic development. An…

Investigates changes of the student population with academic difficulty at the College of the Canyons. More specifically, this fall 2002 study investigates trends of the student population with academic difficulty over time, demographic changes of the population over time, and the impacts of an academic intervention workshop. Outlines the…

This study examined first-year attrition at a large, urban university in the United Kingdom, demonstrating the application of multilevel modeling to the issue of student attrition. A sample of 2,679 full-time, first-year students studying the 20 most common subject areas was identified. Students were divided into four groups depending on their…

Beginning with the class of 2003, all Massachusetts students must pass the state's high stakes test, MCAS, in order to graduate, which may significantly affect Massachusetts' already high dropout rate. According to this MCAS Alert, instead of remedying the problem of students who graduate without skills, this policy threatens to push the most…

This study presents data and findings on student retention at South Texas Community College (STCC) and recommends steps to improve retention rates. STCC groups attrition into three categories: (1) positive attrition, due to graduation, completion or transfer; (2) neutral attrition, due to non-institutional conflicts; and (3) negative attrition,…

The "National Dropout Prevention Newsletter" is published quarterly by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. This issue contains the following articles: (1) College As A Bridge to High School Graduation (Terry Cash); (2) 2005 NDPN Crystal Star Awards of Excellence; (3) Mott Middle College (Chery S. Wagonlander); (4) Gateway to…