In 2004, after an in-depth review of student achievement data for over 4,000 students, the administration of a school district in southern Minnesota identified the following challenges: (1) above-state-average number of special education students; (2) increasing number of English as Second Language (ESL) students; (3) increasing number of students…

The School to Employment Program (STEP) provided job placement, training, counseling, and remediation for economically disadvantaged youth aged 14-21 who were at risk of dropping out of school or who had dropped out and were unprepared for employment. Its two major components were in-school and out-of-school programs. Youth in both programs were…

"Focus on Basics" is the quarterly publication of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. It presents best practices, current research on adult learning and literacy, and how research is used by adult basic education teachers, counselors, program administrators, and policymakers. Articles appearing in this issue…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…

The 2015 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 51st in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The "Digest" has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field…

Beginning in 1992, Atlantic Community College, in New Jersey, conducted a 4-semester study to determine which factors resulted in student attrition and whether the factors that affected retention changed during the study period. The study population included 119 degree-seeking students who entered in January 1992 and who took the state's basic…

The Student Participation And Retention Keys (SPARK) project at Blue Ridge Community College sought to determine why adult basic education (ABE) and General Educational Development (GED) students dropped out of the college's basic skills program and how student retention could be improved. With input from current and former students, a survey form…

This theme issue focuses on motivating young people to learn by providing leadership opportunities in school. "Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program: Assessing Progress" (Josie Danini Supik) examines the program's success. This program, which trains high-risk middle and high school students as tutors of younger children, has dramatically…

This paper is a description of a union-sponsored workplace literacy program conducted in a large metropolitan hospital. The section following the introduction presents the research methodology, including data collection and data analysis procedures. The section entitled "The Making of a Workplace Literacy Program" looks at the planning stages of…

A study of the Philadelphia Lutheran Settlement House's Women's Program was conducted to determine what methods and practices the program uses to maintain a high retention rate (75 percent) of students in its adult basic education (ABE) classes and what else can be done to retain students more effectively. Data were gathered from two basic…

Ranken Technical College, a small, private, non-profit, two-year technical college in St. Louis, developed a plan whereby at-risk students would be flagged, their needs assessed, and programs put into place to meet those needs. The desired result was a higher retention rate, especially among minorities. The following components were found to be…

This monograph provides home economics educators with a resource that contains an overview of youth at risk, reviews motivation theory as a basis for educational decision making, and provides practical teaching suggestions that will help home economics teachers reach and teach these students. The guide is organized in five sections. Following a…

This paper attempts to refute current emphases on supposedly increased numbers of "students at risk." It is claimed that such terminology usually includes students who drop out, who become teenage mothers, or who are illiterate. Data are presented in tabular form demonstrating that all three of these "risk behaviors" are at their lowest in…

In spring 1993, Charles County Community College (CCCC) in Maryland conducted a telephone survey of students who had been enrolled at the college the previous fall but did not return for the spring semester. A total of 1,655 students were identified as non-returning by the third week of classes in spring 1993, representing 29% of the fall 1992…

A study was conducted at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) in Illinois to develop a profile of students who withdrew from courses between summer 1990 and spring 1992. For the 2-year period studied, each degree credit student who officially withdrew from a course was asked to complete a survey form, indicating withdrawal status, whether a…