According to newly released Third International Mathematics and Science Study data, American children may score low on international comparisons because teachers are trying to teach them too many topics. Surprisingly, Florida's minimum competency testing program has not increased low-achievers' dropout rate. A recent "American…

Statistical evidence, 1980-95, on Scottish secondary students' attainment, achievement, rates of staying on in postcompulsory education, and rates of entering higher education indicates sharp reductions in differences between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Improved access to expanded curricula has been supported by a deeply embedded social…

Analyses of national longitudinal surveys of students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades indicate that general and specific measures of social capital (attending Catholic school, family structure, parent-child and parent-school interactions) are related to likelihood of dropping out, and that social capital interacts with parents' financial and human…

Reviews the literature related to student attrition and retention. Discusses findings from a survey of community college students who withdrew from developmental courses, to determine their reasons for leaving. Describes intervention programs that were subsequently developed, including telephone intervention, mentoring, and skills enhancement…

Describes a job-specific career education program to foster high school completion by students with and without disabilities. The program involved a school/business partnership and student/school contracts (which guaranteed the student a part-time job while in school and a full-time job upon successful program completion and graduation). Students'…

Describes a teaching approach successful with 1960s at-risk students, in which literature was carefully selected for readability, interest, brevity, and literary quality. Notes that all activities were literature-based and that discussion was short and text focused. Explains that each lesson was a miniature language arts curriculum and that…

Impacts of the parents' divorce and the student's academic potential and drug use on non-completion of high school were examined using 3 methods of structural equation modeling with latent variables. Data were collected from 706 adolescents (in grades 10 through 12). Maximum likelihood, asymptotically distribution-free, and categorical variable…

Presents findings of a preliminary review of research literature on learners and learning in distance education. Comparative analyses of distance education methods and research on student outcomes are highlighted, including students' reasons for dropout or persistence, student profiles, and the impact of institutional interventions on student…

Explores why few men registered for and consistently dropped out of a college women's studies course. Interviews with nine men and a review of another student's journal show an uneasiness with being the gender minority in the class, feelings of repression, discomfort at being left out, yet a better appreciation for the minority experience in…

Describes perspectives of several families whose children dropped out of school. Audiotaped interviews with 3 or more members of 12 families reveal hostile views toward schooling and a 2-generation history of poor academic performance. School was a series of academic failures, conflicts, disciplinary hearings, suspensions, and expulsions. Dropping…

Studied the impact of a $70-per-month increase in payment to foster parents, and other incentives, on the stability of foster care and the behavior of 4- to 7-year-old children in foster care. Children whose foster parents received payments exhibited a lower foster care dropout rate than other children. (SM)

Describes a study conducted at the Liberty University School of Lifelong Learning investigating the effects of student-teacher interaction on the academic integration and retention of 120 students taking general education courses. Finds no significant difference in overall completion rates of students receiving and not receiving faculty-initiated…

Once black students matriculate at a predominantly white college, they are often left to fend for themselves. Some schools, however, have launched retention programs that are effective. Characteristics of effective retention efforts, especially the importance of concerned, supportive faculty, are reviewed. (SLD)

According to this literature review, school practices such as placement of at-risk students in alternative, nontraditional programs, individualized counseling, low student-teacher ratio, heavy vocational emphasis, and peer tutoring successfully lower dropout rates, whereas remediation, retention in grade, tracking, and suspension only exacerbate…

Descriptive statistical data on the status of African-American college students in Pennsylvania is presented and includes application and acceptance rates, freshman enrollments, financial aid awards, first-year and overall dropout rates, and withdrawal reasons. Some comparisons of ethnic groups are made. Concern is expressed over declining…