This report on the high proportion (25 percent) of California high school students who drop out is divided into five major sections. The first discusses the historical shifts in reform efforts to address, alternately, "relevance" and "excellence." It finds that high school students are now more bored and apathetic than…

A detailed description of a vocational retraining project for unemployed and undereducated adults developed in California by Modesto Junior College between 1964 and 1966 was made. Over 1,000 unemployed and undereducated adults were referred to the New Hope Project under the provisions of the Manpower Development and Training Act. The primary goals…

Strain theory, which is widely criticized, presumes a negative relationship between social class and delinquency. The theory is strengthened with the following variables added to the analysis: (1) grade level, (2) social status, (3) achievement, (4) absences and dropout frequency, and (5) tracking. The paradigm of collective behavior may also be…

This report serves as a progress report on the implementation of the Commission's longitudinal student data system. Recent data submission by the University of California and the California State University, along with the community college data already in-house, will make it possible for the Commission to conduct studies on time-to-degree,…

Data from 805 California high schools are used to examine teacher education and experience in relation to student dropout rates. Dropout rates tend to be higher where faculties include a greater percentage of minimally educated teachers or teachers with little experience. These relationships are independent of school size, student poverty, and…

Gaps in academic achievement between students from various racial and ethnic groups and from low-income families are a cause for national concern. The advent of high stakes testing and the increased awareness of high dropout rates have rekindled the search for ways to help all children succeed in school. Many strategies to address lagging…

This brief presents the most current data available on the health, education and family well-being of children in California's immigrant families, who represent 51% of the state's total child population. It challenges misinformed and negative stereotypes about children in immigrant families. For example, 85% of children from immigrant families in…

This report examines the patterns of academic performance and withdrawal rate of first-time freshmen students at Santa Ana College (SAC) in the Fall 1972 semester and compares them to patterns found for the same kind of students at 32 other California community colleges during the same semester. Results indicate that SAC students had lower GPA's…

This Opportunity 08 position paper advises that the next President of the United States should focus on lifting the achievement levels of our nation's schoolchildren. It recommends that the new President should mount a determined effort, together with states and local school districts, to boost the academic performance of low achievers by: (1)…

Lack of data on California high school graduation and dropout rates prompted the development of a research method for determining graduation and dropout rates for the Region II Migrant Education enrolled high school Class of 1985. The most accurate method of estimating these rates was to track individual students through their high school years.…

This report documents the extraordinary crisis facing Florida's public schools and provides evidence that Amendment 9--a proposed constitutional amendment to reduce class sizes--is a cost-effective and invaluable first step to rebuilding its troubled public schools. The report also sets the record straight about the long-term benefits of investing…

School dropout rates for two consecutive years (1985-86 and 1986-87) for all California regular public high schools are examined in conjunction with the percentage of students covered by Aid to Families with Dependent Children, total enrollment, achievement, and academic course enrollments. Higher achievement was associated with lower dropout…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

THIS REPORT PROVIDES A GENERAL PICTURE OF THE ENROLLMENT PATTERN FOR THE MODESTO MULTIOCCUPATIONAL PROJECT. TABLES GIVE DATA ON THE ACTIVE AND INACTIVE ENROLLMENT IN VOCATIONAL AND PREVOCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMS AND REASONS FOR DROPPING OUT OF THE PROGRAMS, THE MAIN REASONS BEING LACK OF PROGRESS, LACK OF INTEREST, POOR ATTENDANCE, AND FAMILY…