In response to declines in enrollment and average daily attendance since 1975, Ohlone College conducted a study of student attrition which involved: (1) a telephone survey of the 2,593 students who enrolled in Fall 1979 and dropped out or withdrew from classes before the end of the quarter; (2) a mailed survey of the 15 members of the California…

The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects were set up to aid disadvantaged youths, ages 16 to 19, guaranteeing them a part-time job during the school year and a full-time job during summer months on the condition that they remain in, or return to, a secondary school or enroll in an equivalency education program. It was started in January,…

The document is comprised of the appendixes to Volume 3 ("Descriptive Study of the Talent Search Program") of a four-volume Research Triangle Institute final report titled, "A Study of the National Upward Bound and Talent Search Programs." The 14 appendixes comprising the document are: a list of Talent Search advisory council…

Traditionally, postsecondary education is based on a selective model in which students are uniformly expected to benefit from the methods of instructors and their concepts of appropriate curriculum and educational goals. Under this system, 30 to 70 percent of all community college students become part of an attrition statistic. In order to adapt…

Provides an overview of the courses for pre-engineering attrition. Suggests ways to improve retention rates of students in cooperative college programs. (RT)

Over one-third of high school students in Canada are dropping out of school. However, the advent of multimedia computer technology has increased the potential of career interventions, particularly for at-risk youth. This digest describes such a program entitled Knowledge for Youth About Careers (KYAC). KYAC is based on attribution change theory…

This research project was conducted to identify the reasons for the low retention rate for adult students enrolled in the prep level of the General Educational Development (GED) programs offered by the Clinton County (Pennsylvania) Development Center for Adults. All adult students who attended class at least once from July 1998 through January…

Little attention has been given to institutional violence exercised by schools as a major stressor leading to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and high dropout rates among Latino students. Institutional violence is defined as the norms, values, and structures of institutions that exclude and discriminate against individuals of disadvantaged…

This case study explored culturally relevant practices in an urban American Indian secondary alternative school and three students' responses to them. The most vital factor contributing to student success was culturally responsive teachers. Other factors were small school size, flexible school formats, and governance structures. Implications for…

Career academies are characterized by these three basic features: a school-within-a-school organizational structure, curricula that combine academic and career or technical courses based on a career theme, and partnerships with local employers. In a 10-year longitudinal study of the academy model, begun in 1993 in 9 schools around the country,…

A pilot vocational exploration program in the Pocono Mountain School District (Pennsylvania) was conducted for students who were at risk of dropping out of school after failing eighth grade. The program, conducted as a ninth-grade class, allowed at-risk students to receive concentrated, personalized help in basic academic skills while exploring…

As part of a districtwide follow-up study, California's Sacramento City College (SCC) surveyed 2,075 former students from 1993-94 to gather information on student outcomes and characteristics. This report presents findings for the college by academic program. First, a brief discussion of survey methodology is provided, indicating that surveys were…

As part of a sweeping educational reform package, the Texas legislature passed a No Pass/No Play provision requiring that a student have a 6-weeks average of at least 70 in every course or sit out of all extracurricular activities for the next 6 weeks. A review of the effects of this provision in the Austin Independent School District indicated…

This publication, part of an ongoing effort by the Iowa Department of Education, contains data about the secondary school dropouts from public schools for fiscal year 1990 by state, size, category, merged area, and county, and the primary status of Iowa's 1989 public high school graduates one year after graduation by state, size code, and merged…

Student retention continues to be an important concern among college and university officials; many programs have been implemented at postsecondary institutions to improve student retention, especially that of minority students. This paper examines the theory and practice of program evaluation in retention-focused programs. Program evaluations…