The transition into high school is a critical point in the educational pipeline, and ninth-grade can be characterized as one of its leakiest junctures. This policy brief examines how some states and districts are currently easing the transition into high school for students. It focuses on five key challenges that states, districts and schools…

The Target 2000 legislation enacted by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1989 mandates halving the state's dropout rate by the year 2000. The statute requires that the State Board of Education, assisted by a select committee, devise and pilot-test dropout prevention programs during school years 1989-90, 1990-91, and 1991-92. In September…

The "National Dropout Prevention Newsletter" is published quarterly by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Preparing for the Demands of the New World Economy (Patrick J. O'Connor); (2) Connecting At-Risk Youth to the High-Performance Workforce (Patrick J. O'Connor); (3) Butler…

In the spring of 1988 the South Carolina exit examination will be administered for the first time to determine if tenth-grade students will receive a regular diploma when they graduate from high school. School districts will be required by the Education Improvement Act to provide remediation to students who do not pass the exit examination, and…

This document presents the proceedings of a forum held to study the problem of at-risk students and dropouts in South Carolina and to bring together representatives from the state's public schools, institutions of higher education, business and industry, government agencies, community organizations, and private citizens in the hopes of encouraging…

South Carolina's first major dropout prevention initiative began two decades ago when leaders became more interested in the industrial development of the State. A 1966 study found that black youths were experiencing a dropout rate of 72%, while that of white youth was 48%. Statewide efforts taken in the early 1970's to alleviate this problem were…

In this publication, six critical components of successful truancy intervention programs have been identified. Each component is discussed based on the research as well as practical considerations. Several program examples are provided at the end of each discussion. Approaches employed by these examples are designated model programs, promising…

Federal funding sources available to school districts for meeting the needs of at-risk students are listed in this document. Each source is grouped according to its dropout prevention and retrieval strategy. These strategies include school-site management; student-oriented, teacher-oriented, and collaborative approaches; structured intervention…

Describes a South Carolina program, "Tender Loving Counseling," designed to identify potential dropouts for group and individual counseling. Describes focus of the program to be on building self-concept, motivation, and study skills. (TE)

With the passage of the Early Child Development and Academic Act of 1993, 21 former Target 2000 Dropout Prevention and Retrieval pilot projects were reorganized as technical assistance sites. This publication is a compilation of descriptions of the programs at the technical assistance sites, areas in which technical assistance is available, and…

This guide is intended to encourage South Carolina secondary vocational education administrators, teachers, and counselors to implement programs designed to keep potential dropouts in school and recover those who leave school prematurely, as well as to provide those educators with research findings relevant to such activities. Following an…

In South Carolina 235,420 children were served by Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I programs. The Fiscal Year 1975 allocation to South Carolina was 30,882,029 dollars. Reading activities were provided for 64 percent of Title I students, math programs for 48 percent, and dropout prevention activities for nine percent. The instructional…

South Carolina's Occupational Education delivery system made progress in achieving the 3-year goals contained in the Two-Year State Plan for Vocational-Technical Education, FY 1995-96, especially through its continued implementation of tech prep. Workshops provided technical assistance related to standards and measures. The system consisted of 242…

This is a summary of detailed planning documents for achieving 8 of the 11 1975 objectives adopted by the South Carolina State board of education in 1970. Separate sections discuss plans for reducing the number of school dropouts, reducing the number of first grade failures, implementing a Statewide kindergarten system, improving students' basic…

A study representing a new level of involvement in the problem of dropout prevention is presented. The point is made that a dropout generally is a person who does not see his public education as related to his particular needs or goals. Recommendations of the study are: (1) Establish a regularized school-community input and feedback system to…