Many rural youth in Russell County, Virginia, are at risk of becoming dropouts due to economic and social factors seen throughout Appalachia. These influences include high levels of unemployment and poverty, adult illiteracy, low self-esteem, and lack of role models that demonstrate the value of educational attainment. United Way of Southwest…

In the 1992-93 school year, in response to a request from the Board of Trustees of the Austin Independent School District (Texas) (AISD), the district's Office of Research and Evaluation conducted a retrospective examination of the 1991-92 AISD programs to determine cost-effectiveness when possible. This report describes the review process.…

A practicum addressed the high percentage of students who were experiencing difficulty with reading comprehension and vocabulary retention in a fifth-grade Drop Out Prevention class by implementing a supplemental whole-language program. Subjects were 19 fifth-grade students. An informal reading inventory, an attitude survey, and academic grades…

Volume 3, the third of eight publications developed by the Intercultural Development Research Association as part of the "Texas School Dropout Survey Project," describes a tracking study developed to measure the magnitude of the dropout problem in Texas. The tracking of 1,500 students who had withdrawn from schools in 10 districts is…

Adolescent pregnancy and childbearing rates remain higher in the United States than in most Western nations; more than 500,000 teenage girls have babies every year. As these teen parents mature, they have diminished educational and career expectations. A small number of programs directed toward the career needs of teenage parents was developed…

As part of the National Longitudinal Transition Study of Special Education Students (NLTS), this study examined characteristics of and educational programs and services provided to secondary students (N=589) classified as learning disabled (LD) in the 1985-86 school year. Difficulties in performing basic functional skills were identified in about…

This report concludes that the house plan should be the centerpiece of a systematic restructuring of New York City neighborhood high schools to reduce the dropout rate and improve academic achievement. The house plan is based on the subdivision of one or more grades into smaller schools within schools. Long-term monitoring of New York City dropout…

A study was conducted at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) to develop a profile of students who withdrew from courses between summer 1986 and spring 1988 and to compare this profile with the results of a 1982-1986 withdrawal study. For the past 4 years, each degree credit student who has officially withdrawn from a course has been asked to…

This report summarizes information about students who dropped out of Massachusetts public schools during 1989 and provides comparative dropout data from the 1987 and 1988 surveys. Both the annual dropout rate and the projected 4-year dropout rate are presented. The annual rates describe the percentage of students who drop out in a given year and…

The 1988/89 New York City high school Inquiry Demonstration Project (IDP) met or surpassed its evaluation criteria. The IDP comprised the Urban Academy, a laboratory school serving high-risk students, and an on-site staff development program in seven high schools. The overall goal was to promote the use of the inquiry method in the classroom. The…

Many potential dropouts have problems coping with the formal and impersonal structure of most high schools. In response to this, an effort was made to create an alternative, more supportive, organizational structure featuring participative management in the Louisiana State Youth Opportunities Unlimited (LSYOU) program. Program teachers, tutors,…

In the last 10 years community college enrollments have leveled off, bringing a new urgency to institutional efforts to retain current students. Obstacles to academic persistence include external factors such as insufficient funds, work demands, social demands, family obligations, housing or transportation problems; and internal problems such as…

This document evaluates Eight Percent Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Programs operated in North Carolina's public schools during the 1986-87 school year. Data were received from local education agencies (LEAs) operating 13 Extended School Day Programs, 5 Spring Start-Up Extended School Day Programs, and 3 Dropout Youth Projects. Data on the…

This document was prepared to aid Rhode Island schools in dealing with youth at risk of school failure. It defines at-risk students as young people who in danger of not completing school and notes that in Rhode Island over 25% of students who enter school fail to graduate from high school. It stresses the need for schools and communities to focus…

A model depicting dropping out of high school as a process is presented. Against a longitudinal mapping of student experiences, questions about standards or exit tests are addressed. Existing research on dropouts provided the empirical basis for the model. The central features of the model are the academic and social systems of the school.…