The indicators and predictors of dropout as documented in the literature are vast and encompass influences such as family, motivation, socio-economic status, and academic achievement, and could be accepted as universal reasons students choose to leave school and not return. This qualitative study investigated the reasons why students in one West…

The primary purpose of this descriptive survey research study was to examine the recruitment and retention practices of K-12 public school principals. The perceptions and attitudes of current principals towards recruitment and retention practices were investigated. The research questions guiding this study examined (a) principals' attitudes…

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Change Strategies and includes: (1) YA! Es Tiempo--The Courage to Connect (Maria "Cuca" Robledo Montecel); (2) Making…

Over the past decade, Americans have become increasingly concerned about the high numbers--and costs--of high school dropouts. The time is now to build a similar consensus around this less-recognized but equally urgent fact: The pool from which employers, colleges, and the military draw is too small, and still shrinking, because millions of…

In this article, the author explores some particularly "luminous" paradoxes that have emerged from qualitative material gathered as part of an ethnographic study carried out over the last five years. The research, now a doctoral study, grew initially out of the author's own contradictory experiences of running learning provision in the…

Alcohol abuse and alcohol-related use problems among adolescents are highly prevalent and are a major concern worldwide. This study estimated the prevalence of drug abuse, knowledge about drug abuse and its effect on psychosocial well-being and induced behavioral problems among students of a public rural secondary school that admitted both girls…

Students who are disengaged from school are at risk for poor academic achievement, skipping classes, sexual activity, substance use, and ultimately dropping out of school. Out-of-school time programs can play a role in increasing school engagement. This brief provides information on the importance of school engagement, how out-of-school time…

In many respects, Hispanic families share the aspirations and anxieties of many other families nationwide: They are keenly focused on the role completing high school and going to college will play in their children's future. Students and young adults see success in school and college as key to interesting work and a prosperous future, and most are…

Accelerated middle schools are self-contained academic programs designed to help middle school students who are behind grade level catch up with their age peers. If these students begin high school with other students their age, the hope is that they will be more likely to stay in school and graduate. The programs serve students who are one to two…

Several studies have documented low rates of agreement between clinician- and researcher-generated diagnoses. However, little is known about whether this lack of agreement has implications for the processes and outcomes of subsequent treatment. To study this possibility, the authors used diagnostic agreement to predict therapy engagement and…

Previous reviews of outpatient interventions for adolescent substance abuse have been limited in the extent to which they considered the methodological quality of individual studies. The authors assessed 31 randomized trials of outpatient interventions for adolescent substance abuse on 14 attributes of trial quality. A quality of evidence score…

We studied the effects of academic performance, motivation, and social connectedness on third-year retention, transfer, and dropout behavior. To accommodate the three outcome categories and nesting of data within institutions, we fit a hierarchical multinomial logistic regression path model with first-year academic performance as a mediating…

This study applied a multinomial HOLM technique to examine the extent to which the institutional climate for diversity influences the different types of college student withdrawal, such as stop out, drop out, and transfer. Based on a reformulation of Tinto's model along with the conceptualization of institutional climate for diversity by Hurtado…

This article reports the finding of a recent study conducted as part of a larger white paper, "Sounds of Learning: The Impact of Music Education on All Aspects of a Child's Growth and Development. The purpose of the study was to uncover what people know and what they do not know about the impact of music education on at-risk kids, in an effort to…

For juvenile offenders across the state, the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections (ADJC) is the last resort. Faced with limited academic and technical skills, these incarcerated students face a future that is very uncertain. The state recognized that educating this population is a key not only in reducing the dropout rate, but providing the…