Attrition from Canadian graduate programs is a point of concern on a societal, institutional, and individual level. To improve retention in graduate school, a better understanding of what leads to withdrawal needs to be reached. This paper uses logistic regression and discrete-time survival analysis with time-varying covariates to analyze data…

"Indigenous" college students in both Canada and the United States have the lowest rates of obtaining postsecondary degrees, and their postsecondary dropout rates are higher than for any other minority (Freeman & Fox, 2005; Mendelson, 2004; Reddy, 1993). There has been very little research done to uncover possible reasons for such…

Despite recent declines in high school dropout rates, thousands of young Canadians continue to leave high school every year without a diploma. Currently, approximately 20% of Canadians aged 20 years and over have never completed high school. Most Canadians recognize the link between educational attainment and quality of life, and know that…

Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA, is an important and often overlooked strategy for helping adults progress towards a degree. PLA is the process by which many colleges evaluate for academic credit the college-level knowledge and skills an individual has gained outside of the classroom, including employment, military training/service, travel,…

Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA, is an important and often overlooked strategy for helping adults progress towards a degree. PLA is the process by which many colleges evaluate for academic credit the college-level knowledge and skills an individual has gained outside of the classroom (or from non-college instructional programs), including…

The purpose of this paper is to capture and profile postsecondary education dropouts from three different types of postsecondary education--university, college and other types of institutions. It compares them with graduates from these three types of institutions. The analysis for this report is based on data from the Youth in Transition Survey…

This study compared the academic performance of community college students who transferred to the Faculty of Arts at York University in Ontario (Canada) to the performance of students with Ontario Academic Credit (OAC) backgrounds admitted to the same faculty between 1987 and 1992. The academic performance of 155 community college transfer…

A study was conducted to compare the attrition rates at Vancouver Community College (VCC) with those of other British Columbia two-year institutions; to determine the effects of factors such as program duration and employment outlook on attrition; and to identify ways of minimizing the negative effects of attrition. Outcomes factors were…

A study examined academic achievement and persistence of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) high school students in one urban Alberta (Canada) school district for 1991 to 1996, including analysis of student records and interviews with former students and ESL and mainstream teachers. Results indicate 46% of ESL students did not complete studies…

This book provides a comprehensive survey of literature regarding the theory and practice of distance education (DE). Among the aspects of DE discussed are the following; overall picture of DE today (concept/evolution, DE and open learning, modes of teaching/learning); background (basic questions concerning education/teaching/learning and impact…