Despite many responses to the dropout problem, it remains unclear which school strategies are successful with at-risk students. State initiatives are well intentioned, but have certain limitations. Criteria such as local accountability, school-by-school regeneration and reform, longitudinal strategies, and horizontal coordination are needed. This…

City-as-School (CAS) is an alternative high school linking students to various out-of-school learning experiences throughout New York City. In 1985, the CAS was awarded a National Diffusion Network (NDN) four-year replication grant, given to exemplary programs to enable them to disseminate their model to other interested schools and districts…

Wake Summerbridge is an enrichment program that has supported selected Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) (North Carolina) middle school students for a number of years. This evaluation compared subsequent academic performance, suspensions, and dropout rates of students who had participated in the program with a comparison group of students…

A University of North Carolina (Charlotte) program provides tutorial services to students in certain high-risk courses. Participants from 1988-89 earned higher final grades and had fewer lower grades and withdrawals than nonparticipants, despite lower predicted academic potential and industriousness at the time of college entry. (Author/MSE)

State Compensatory Education (SCE) is a supplemental program designed to eliminate disparities in (a) student performance on assessment instruments administered under Chapter 39 of the Texas Education Code (1995, amended 2007), and (b) the rates of high school completion between students who are at risk of dropping out of school, as defined by…

About one in four students who enter high school will not graduate. Numerous dropout-prevention programs have been implemented nationwide in the past decade to increase the high school graduation rate. This growth in programs has made it more difficult for educators to determine the effectiveness of the many alternatives. This guide is designed to…

Youth Opportunities Unlimited is a summer residential program for Arkansas high school students at risk of dropping out of school. During 1989-91, 517 14- and 15-year-old students completed the program, which consisted of two academic classes, a job skills class, and paid employment during 60 days residence on a university campus. Additional…

Many students who enter public schools leave without achieving what has become the expected minimum level of educational attainment, a high school diploma. The purpose of this study was to contribute to existing dropout-prevention research by identifying and validating reliable decision rules for differentiating actual dropouts from high school…

The PAISC program provides support to schools enabling them to successfully implement discipline and early intervention dropout prevention programs. Selected characteristics of 15 sites in which the PAISC program has been implemented are described. This report details the way in which staff divided its time between implementing the components that…

Describes the impact on the dropout problem of the Boston Compact, a collaboration between universities, businesses, labor unions, cultural organizations, and Boston Public School. Reviews "The Dropout Prevention and Reentry Proposal," a long-range plan developed in 1986 by a task force of school and community people, and the program…

This study evaluated the quality of the learning experiences, accommodation and support strategies, and post-school outcomes of 40 students with disabilities who participated in Wisconsin's Youth Apprenticeship (YA) programs. The YA program is a rigorous 2-year school- and work-based learning program for high school juniors and seniors. Currently…

This project investigated the learning support needs of post-secondary Australian students with a psychiatric disability for the purpose of maximizing student retention. Fifteen focus groups were held throughout Australia with students, prospective students, teachers, support staff, and management. In addition, three surveys were completed by 256…

Using a randomized two group pre-test/post-test research design, the study found that (1) significant results occurred on those variables measuring levels of vocational maturity, days of school attendance, and numbers of disciplinary referrals and (2) non-significant results occurred on those variables measuring proportions of students dropping…

Describes the Youth Opportunity Program at the Central Islip, New York, Psychiatric Center and evaluates its effectiveness in preventing school dropout and providing career training. (ST)

Because families and communities often fail to meet adolescents' need to belong to a productive, functional organization, schools are increasingly fulfilling this role. Membership depends on social bonding, which has four elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Principals can remove impediments to membership by fostering a sense…