Based in rural northern Orange County (North Carolina), the Adolescents-in-Need Project began in 1981 as a joint effort of the school district, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, and community agencies. Project goals focused on preventing untimely events in the lives of teenagers, and included helping adolescents…

Years of research have shown that student learning is based on cognitive development. This finding has implications for the teaching of vocational education, especially to marginal students who are potential dropouts. Research has shown that students who have an internal rather than an external locus of control and who are more field independent…

The Portland School District addresses the dropout problem through programs which fall into the following categories: (1) keeping students engaged in meaningful learning according to their needs, and counseling if necessary, (2) placing students appropriately; (3) monitoring their performance and (4) intervening to prevent and recover dropouts.…

This paper describes and evaluates Grand Academy, an alternative junior high school set up in New York City by a local district and a nonprofit community-based organization to meet the needs of students who have twice failed to meet Board of Education promotioal standards in the seventh grade. The instructional program, provided by the school…

This paper provides school district administrators with a structured method for developing school programs aimed at reducing the risk of adolescent dropout. The methodology encompasses problem definition, fact finding, mission management, overcoming inertia, cohering programs tied to theory, feasible goal-setting, and normative personnel…

The National Education Association's "Operation Rescue" employs a two-tiered approach to combating the dropout rate: the first approach is research and information sharing, the second is to facilitate direct action at the local level through a grants program to fund dropout prevention programs in the schools. In order to focus Operation…

The national dropout rate has remained at about 20% for the last decade. However, disparities in the definition of dropouts and in data collection have caused national dropout figures to vary. Researchers agree that students from areas of large minority populations with fewer English-speaking students, and those living in poverty are at risk of…

Approaches to improve student achievement through improved self-actualization are attempted in the following programs: Rev. Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH; the U.S. Department of Labor's program known as the Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Project Program; Denver, Colorado's New Pride Experiment; the Michigan Expeditions Program; and the John…

Efforts addressed at the pervasive school dropout problem in New York City received a boost in 1978 with the development of large scale, centrally initiated programs to reduce the number of high school dropouts. Based on the recommendations of two studies, the New York City Board of Education's Division of High Schools established outreach centers…

In the New York City high schools, three change strategies have been used to improve a system which, in and by itself, is dramatically changing. The high school system has undergone significant changes in purpose, organization, culture and student performance. The first change strategy established a partnership between the high schools and the…

Results of a study that investigated the effects of instructor-pacing and self-pacing in a personalized system of instruction (PSI) course on student withdrawal rate, achievement, and attitudes are discussed in this speech. Sixty-two Arizona State University students enrolled in a political science introductory research course were randomly…

This paper discusses retention techniques that can be used with minority students at predominantly white colleges, focusing on four phases that are critical to the retention and academic achievement of minority students: acceptance, acclimatization, responsibility, and productivity. In the acceptance phase, the college community should attempt to…

This document is a report of a panel discussion on literacy conducted at an adult education conference in Quebec (Canada). Panelists included Leona Grise, Brenda Lee, and Nicole Snaauw; Ann M. Gauvin was the moderator. The discussion centered on student recruitment, the dropout factor, and alternate methods of learning for individuals lacking…

Comprehensive evaluations of two dropout prevention/reentry demonstration programs, sponsored by the Department of Education, one funded under the School Dropout Demonstration Assistance Program (SDDAP) and one funded under the Cooperative Demonstration Program (CDP), are provided in this paper. Both programs were designed to demonstrate effective…

Teacher education programs can benefit from research on student retention. By focusing on intervention for the very youngest student, failure at early levels may be reduced. Teachers must be taught to meet the needs of these students and to work more effectively with high-risk students who are potential drop-outs. Teachers can help at-risk…