A description is given of a program developed to offer first semester student teachers the opportunity to become intensely involved with adolescents through a tutorial program on a high school campus. The object was to enable student teachers to become familiar with adolescent social and learning problems, particularly those of students from lower…

Evaluation of the Attendance Improvement Dropout Prevention (A.I.D.P.) program as it operated in 26 selected New York (New York) public high schools in 1986-87 raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the program. A minimum of 50 percent of the participants were to achieve the following objectives: (1) improve attendance; (2) pass at…

This monograph explores current trends in the literature on school reform, dropouts, effective schools, and successful practices in the middle grades in order to create a framework for thinking about dropout prevention at the intermediate level. Literature reviewed in Chapter 1 suggests that the dynamics of dropping out involve the relation…

Institutions of further education and schools have traditionally been viewed as competitors. With the rising unemployment of the late 1970s, however, the further education system in the United Kingdom began reexamining its role in preparing young people for working life. The result was a process-based approach incorporating the elements of…

The effectiveness of the Plattsburgh Freshman Seminar program, which was designed to increase student retention, was evaluated. The 45 hour, three credit program was designed to help students clarify educational and personal goals, to increase faculty-student contact, to develop communication skills, and to familiarize the student with the…

The development and operation of the Federally funded Ventures in Community Improvement Demonstration Project (VICI) and its impact on participant youths and communities are summarized in this report. VICI's purposes were (1) to provide young, minority, inner-city, high school dropouts with intensive skills training in the workplace that could…

This publication provides business with a detailed guide for becoming involved in one important option for business/education partnerships: school-to-work transition programs, or Jobs Collaboratives. A rationale is offered for business to join a collaborative effort as a first step to understanding schools and as a basis for more systemic change.…

A 5-year longitudinal study of 15,000 community college students was conducted to examine student behaviors and outcomes. The importance of longitudinal studies in the analysis of student outcomes data and as a baseline for future student tracking systems is discussed. The computer methodologies by which the data were collected and analyzed are…

The Office of the State Comptroller in New York conducted several audits of the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) at about 90 registered business schools in the state. TAP provides up to $3,300 per year in tuition assistance to disadvantaged students who take approved programs at the private schools. In 1985-86, TAP paid about $45 million to the…

This book on the topic of flunking and grade retention comprises the following articles: (1) "Introduction and Overview" (Lorrie A. Shepard and Mary Lee Smith); (2) "Grade Level Retention Effects: A Meta-Analysis of Research Studies" (C. Thomas Holmes); (3) "Repeating and Dropping Out of School" (James B. Grissom and Lorrie A. Shepard); (4) "A…

This study investigated school district size, the consolidation of small school districts to make larger ones, and the linear relationships of school district size to expense per average daily attendance (ADA), basic and composite scores on the MAT6 standard achievement test, and secondary school dropout rate. Correlational analysis revealed that…

The Cleveland Initiative for Education (CIE) is a plan designed by the Greater Cleveland (Ohio) Roundtable, the city's key assembly of civic and corporate leaders, and the Cleveland Public Schools. Its goal is to improve the quality of education, increase the number of high school graduates, and improve graduates' post-secondary opportunities…

A project was undertaken to provide an educational support program for adult basic education (ABE) classes by using educational outreach workers to help immigrant and other local residents in Hawaii acquire basic skills. The project goals were to (1) identify and recruit at least 250 adults in need of ABE; (2) develop an outreach strategy to…

These proceedings from a conference on restructuring the schools present a variety of perspectives for instituting educational change. Consideration of the theme allowed a review of the failures of educational reform, and a survey of current trends. There was a call for less rhetoric and more attention to comprehensive insights and plans that will…

Higher standards in public schools have made it necessary for educational reformers to identify at-risk students and to develop effective programs for preventing their failure. This pamphlet begins by delineating the characteristics of at-risk students and discussing evaluation instruments that are useful for identifying such students. Successful…