Studies determinants of university dropouts, using a longitudinal data set on student enrollments at the University of Montreal. Variables explaining persistence and dropouts are related to a nontraditional class-size effect in first-year required courses and to type of university program. Strong academic performance influences student…

Having data available is so important because it can improve upon our personal perceptions. Admittedly, statistics can sometimes be skewed to tell whatever story their handlers want them to tell, but by and large, high-quality data allow us to step back from personal perceptions and embark on an analysis with an eye toward identifying the root…

Accounting for only 1 percent of the total U.S. population, American Indians have a 60 percent to 70 percent high school dropout rate, the highest among all minority groups. At the same time, however, more American Indian students than ever are graduating from high school and leaving their home communities behind in pursuit of a higher education.…

Students living in inner city and rural areas of the United States exhibit lower educational achievement and a higher likelihood of dropping out of high school than do their suburban counterparts. Educational research and policy has tended to neglect these inequalities or, at best, focus on one type but not the other. In this article, we integrate…

Starting college is indeed one of life's transitions that can be stressful. Many students are leaving home for the first time, leaving the support of family and friendship networks, and embarking on all kinds of challenges, including the stress of academic performance. Now financial distress plays an even bigger role than previously known. The…

Early college high schools allow students to earn both a high school diploma and two years of college credit simultaneously. The concept makes college more affordable, provides more support to students in their first two years of college, and gives students a jump start on their careers by eliminating time-wasting activities in the last two years…

We present a multiple spells-competing risks model of stopout, dropout, reenrollment, and graduation behavior. We find that students who experience an initial stopout are more likely to experience subsequent stopouts (occurrence dependence) and are less likely to graduate. We also find evidence of the impact of the length of an initial spell on…

This study examined the efficacy of a learner-centred environment in enhancing the academic achievements and motivation of high school students who are at risk of dropping out of school. Three groups of students at high academic risk were compared. The control group consisted of students who are exposed to a remedial academic program in a…

For more than two decades, many states have required students to pass exit examinations to obtain high school diplomas. Despite these sweeping policy initiatives, we know relatively little about whether such policies are related to the chances that high school students will obtain diplomas. The authors estimate the association between high school…

Motivation can be identified as a dimension that determines learning success and causes the high dropout rate among online learners, especially in complex e-learning environments. It is argued that these learning environments represent a new challenge to cognitive load researchers to investigate the motivational effects of instructional conditions…

Since the mid 1970s the national rate at which incoming 9th graders have completed high school has fallen slowly but steadily; this is also true in 41 states. In 2002, about three in every four students who might have completed high school actually did so; in some states this figure is substantially lower. In this paper I review state-level…

The aim of this article is to explore the relationship between the desired outcomes of the National Plan for Higher Education and the funding formula. It further wants to explore the current situation regarding specific challenges in higher education, namely increased participation, broadened social base of students and equity, as well as a…

This article provides an integrative review of prevention and intervention studies addressing dropout or school completion described in professional journals. Forty-five intervention studies were coded according to research design, participants, interventions, and outcomes to describe the range of data-based programs and approaches available in…

With growing numbers of drug-involved offenders, substance abuse treatment has become a critical part of corrections. A multistage therapeutic community implemented in the Delaware correctional system has as its centerpiece a residential treatment program during work release--the transition between prison and community. An evaluation of this…

Education acts in this country have been created with the express purpose of preventing students from slipping through the cracks. Unfortunately, legislation has not been successful. By disaggregating the student dropout rate in Texas and juxtaposing this information to the prison influx rate in 2001, a profile of the population entering Texas…