Millions of school children are currently at risk of academic failure; the potential costs to society are staggering. If the central factors causing a child's poor social adjustment can be addressed, both the rate of school failure and social service costs can be reduced. Attempting to control the school failure issue, the Wisconsin State…

Dropout rates for Hispanic students are approximately twice those of white Anglo students. This paper reviews the literature on dropout and examines the effects of self-esteem, career and school expectations, family structure, and English language proficiency on the Hispanic youth's decision to drop out. A questionnaire was completed by 139…

This document reports on a national symposium that constituted the first phase of a research study designed to determine how to use intrinsic motivation and self-empowerment concepts to retain special needs learners who are potential dropouts in postsecondary vocational education programs. The first chapter (by Brown and Wotruba) contains the…

This resource directory presents profiles of 86 programs serving at-risk students at all grade levels in Vermont schools in order to share useful information about current programs and services. Educators and others can benefit from considering programs and practices already in place and adopting or adapting these to meet the need of their…

Components of a student retention program at Eastern Michigan University are examined; for each effort to improve retention, project objectives and design, results, and recommendations are presented. Retention initiatives, decided upon as a result of a campus-wide mobilization of effort, include: a student-focused orientation system, a fast track…

While the number of minority students in postsecondary education has climbed since 1970, the rates of minority graduation are still too low. Factors adding to the dropout rate include: inadequate finances, poor academic preparation, low motivation, poor study habits, low basic skills, and low institutional support. This paper describes support…

A program entitled Project COPS (Career Oriented Peer Tutoring System) is a comprehensive peer tutoring and advisement approach that was undertaken to improve student retention at Middlesex County College in Edison, New Jersey. The principal goal of the project was to reach potentially unsuccessful entering freshmen students and to offer them…

The School-Community Guidance Center (SCGC) is an Austin, Texas alternative education program for high-risk students. It employs three project specialists to work with high-risk and delinquent students at two locations, Rice secondary school and a juvenile detention center. Most of the students are referred for disciplinary reasons. Students in…

This report, compiled by the North Carolina State Board of Education's Office for Dropout Prevention, provides dropout data, reasons for students' dropping out of school, and approaches for keeping students in school until successful completion of their education. Facts and figures for dropout rates of high school and the extended day school…

This report contains research findings on student achievement and retention at New York City alternative high schools serving dropouts and potential dropouts. After a summary and introduction, statistics are presented which reveal that alternative schools facilitate positive changes in student performance. Next, reasons for students' dropping out…

This publication is designed to accompany the "Dropout Prevention" manual (1984) and to serve as a guide for the staff development training of administrators, faculty, and staff in the initiation of a dropout prevention program. The staff development program contains materials to assist staff in becoming aware of the scope of the dropout…

This paper recommends new strategies in the use of data in monitoring enrollment distribution, retention, and graduation rates of minority students in predominantly white colleges. Surveys of current literature show there are three significant questions: (1) Who drops out? (2) Why do they drop out? and (3) How can the overall dropout rate be…

A THREE-YEAR SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUTS AND POTENTIAL DROPOUTS IS DESCRIBED. EMPHASIS IS PLACED UPON--(1) SELF-ANALYSIS LEADING TO NEW ATTITUDES, (2) IMPROVED MASTERY OF ENGLISH, READING, MATH, AND STUDY SKILLS, (3) A SUCCESSFUL EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE WHICH INCREASES STUDENT CONFIDENCE, AND (4) A PROFESSIONAL STAFF WHICH IS…

SANTA MONICA HIGH SCHOOL, IN 1960-1961, ESTABLISHED A PROGRAM DESIGNED TO HOLD A SELECTED GROUP OF POTENTIAL DROPOUTS IN SCHOOL IN ORDER TO IMPROVE SCHOLASTIC MOTIVATION, REDUCE DEVIANT BEHAVIOR, DEVELOP INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS, AND PROVIDE PRELIMINARY WORK EXPERIENCE. TWO EXPERIMENTAL AND TWO CONTROL CLASSES WERE FORMED. THE STUDENTS ATTENDED…

As part of a Student Outcomes Model, a study was conducted of attrition in the 1975 freshman class at the University of Colorado using longitudinal survey data from nonreturning students and those currently enrolled. Discriminant analysis was employed to identify factors that distinguished persisters, academic dismissals, stopouts, and transfers.…