Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs not only prepare students for the workplace, but they have also been associated with better academic outcomes, including graduation rates (e.g., Castellano et al., 2012). This study is a longitudinal examination of the 2011-2012 first-time 9th grade cohort in the School District of Philadelphia. Across…

How to identify at-risk students in open online courses has received increasing attention, since the dropout rate is unexpectedly high. Most prior studies have focused on using machine learning techniques to predict student dropout based on features extracted from students' learning activity logs. However, little work has viewed the dropout…

Recent studies of MOOCs demonstrate their ability to reach a large number of users, but also caution against the high rate of dropout. Some have looked closely at MOOC participation in order to better understand how and when users start to disengage, and, if they remain engaged, in what activities they participate. Most of this prior work relies…

This qualitative research study was conducted at one alternative high school to examine why traditional high school dropouts attend alternative schools. Data were gathered over three stages of research during a 2-year period. Sources of data included 105 hours of site observations, student interviews, and the review of site documents. The data…

In light of the fact that students at risk of dropping out of school have become the focus of national attention, this paper examines one alternative program designed to work with a population considered to be at very high risk for dropping out. The population served by the School-Community Guidance Center (SCGC) in the Austin (Texas) Independent…

This paper explores how high schools, through their structures and organizations, may influence their students' decisions about whether to stay in school until graduation or drop out. Traditional explanations for dropout behavior have focused on individual students' social background and academic behaviors. What high schools do to push out or hold…

Describes a conference to consider the features of successful dropout prevention, including support for public awareness of efforts to prevent dropping out. Recommends mentoring, student assessment, gainful employment, incentives, and caring. Includes remarks from and descriptions of presentations. (DHP)

The methods and formula developed by the National Center for Education Statistics for the collection of dropout counts and the formula have been topics of some discussion among various states, including Nevada, and especially Arizona. This paper highlights, from a state's perspective, some of the conceptual, methodological, and statistical…

This study investigated the departure behavior of college students in the United States. Previous attrition studies have typically focused on dropout at specific points in time, such as the first year of enrollment. In this study, the timing of departure was examined over a 5-year period. It was found that factors affecting student attrition had…

While Aboriginal children appear to be particularly disadvantaged in educational performance and outcomes, very little is known about the determinants of school motivation for this group. Commonly it is believed that Aboriginal girls perform better at school and continue longer than Aboriginal boys. This study examined the similarities and…

Despite recent efforts to provide equal education, agreement exists that blacks, females, and disadvantaged students as a group are outperformed in mathematics and science by white middle-class students. To help disadvantaged students, the Duval County Public Schools (Jacksonville, Florida) have developed a "Mayo Clinic" approach to…

School psychologists as consultants can provide valuable services to the school organization by developing interventions for truancy. Traditionally, truancy has been viewed as a discipline referral rather than a psychological referral, with the consequences predominantly punitive in nature and ineffectual. A variety of approaches to improving…

Operation Rescue is a teacher-initiated and -managed early intervention program to identify and help potential dropouts. The program relies upon establishing one-to-one friendships between at-risk children and volunteers. Cooperation with community groups promotes the goal of "local groups solving local problems." Operation Rescue…

Representing a school-based intervention strategy, the plan presented within this document was designed to help build a student's self-concept and to provide positive interactions between a student having difficulty succeeding at school and school personnel. While the plan is not intended to be a recipe for success with at risk students, it does…

Dropout prevention has become a compelling priority for school personnel. But high school dropout research leaves many school variables largely unexamined. This study describes a staffing committee that had been established in a large urban high school during the 1986-87 school year and responded specifically to referrals of students who were…