Findings from the United States Department of Education's tenth annual report on the implementation of Public Law 94-142 are extrapolated to characterize Black and Hispanic students in learning disability classes and the issue of minority student high-school completion rates. In light of the findings, a comprehensive follow-up study is…

Replicates a Florida study of high school students' decisions to drop out using data for West Virginia. Confirms earlier findings that the decision to drop out is based on the student's perceptions of the economic opportunities obtained by a high school diploma. (FMW)

Examined patient characteristics relevant to treatment outcome by administering Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to 86 men following admission to a residential alcoholism treatment program. Cluster analyses yielded three subtypes which differed significantly in their rates of treatment completion. Comparison of data to that obtained in…

The article describes the development and analysis of a system to identify and monitor high-risk students in postsecondary vocational training programs at vocational-technical institutes. The two instruments focus on (1) student satisfaction and (2) instructors' opinions on student abilities and attitudes (student "satisfactoriness')." (DB)

A study using data from the High School and Beyond Survey examined the effects of employment on grade point averages, dropout rate, and postcollege wages and employment rates of 4,068 college students. While working students were more likely to drop out than nonworking students, they also did better in the labor market if they do graduate. (MSE)

Santa Fe School Superintendent Yvonne Gonzales, the "Texas Tornado," was hired to fix a 40% student-dropout rate and a white/Hispanic gap in achievement test scores. Gonzales is an avid integrationist; relies on humor, appeasement, and persuasion tactics; and has alienated some school employees by increasing central office…

This study investigated adult adjustment of 82 students with behavioral disorders 1 and 3 years after exiting high school. Results are reported for general status (e.g., marital status and living arrangements); employment (percent employed, job classification); and "successful" adult adjustment. Results are also compared by graduation status…

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for 1979 through 1991 are used to demonstrate that acquisition of the General Educational Development (GED) credential is associated with an increase in the rate of wage growth for male high school dropouts. (SLD)

A cohort of 782 Soweto (black South African) students was traced during students' first 4 years of schooling, 1987-90 (apartheid still in effect). Only 55 percent completed second grade in 4 years, but repetition in grade was a much greater problem than dropping out. Discusses postapartheid policy implications for improving educational efficiency…

A seven-year ethnographic study of Navajo and Ute youth in a border reservation community suggests the following factors in understanding why youth left school: (1) racial and economic relations in the community and school; (2) home child-rearing patterns of noninterference and early adulthood; and (3) cultural integrity and resistance. (KS)

A recent survey found that 90 percent of high school seniors/respondents perceived the world as stressful and the majority of people as phony. These views may partly explain the high suicide, pregnancy, dropout, and drug usage rates among high school seniors. Teachers can help students overcome stress by modeling coping strategies and providing…

In a review of research on children without friends, the author notes the serious implications of growing up friendless. Issues covered include the process of identifying these children, their sociometric status and behaviors, the relation between children's status and dropping out of school, and considerations for teachers. (LB)

Recounts the story of "The Media Academy," a successful special program at Fremont Academy in Oakland, California, which challenges at-risk students to excel in journalism. Notes that the program is built on three firm tenets: heterogeneous classes, writing across the curriculum, and "less is more"--fewer topics in greater…

Discusses a specific type of mentoring: matching retired, older persons with young people enduring a crisis period in their lives. Programs such as the Teaching Learning Communities (T-LC) Mentoring Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan, assign elders as mentors and tutors to junior high school students in danger of dropping out. Strong elder-youth bonds…

Most discussions about at-risk students focus on remedying deficiencies in basic skills, often narrowly defined as English literacy and ability to perform mathematical computations. Omitting appealing subjects from a "streamlined" curriculum will only worsen the situation. Through careful planning, administrators can add the power of music to…