Dropouts have become an international problem, and it is useful to examine the solutions arrived at by other countries. A major difference is in vocational education. The United States, for example, uses vocational education mainly as a means to motivate uninterested students. Countries with low dropout rates have vocational education and training…

About 15% of the nation's high schools produce more than "half of its dropouts" and close to "75% of its minority dropouts." Half of these schools are found primarily in the cities of the North, Midwest, and West. The other half are found throughout the South and Southwest in urban, suburban, and rural areas. If only a very few students were not…

This article presents a speech that Senator Barack Obama delivered in Thornton, Colorado, in May 2008, summarizing his education beliefs and proposals. One of the highlights of Obama's education proposal is fixing the broken promises of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). As President, he will work with the nation's governors and educators to create and…

Miami-Dade County Public Schools invested in an intensive, three-year program to improve the learning of students in its 39 lowest-performing schools. Known as the Zone, these schools experienced mixed success, with elementary schools reducing the gap between various groups of students while middle and high schools were less successful. However,…

Although dropout rates in virtual school courses are typically quite high, some virtual programs have very low course dropout and failure rates and better passing rates on key criterion tests (e.g., AP tests) than do traditional school programs. Directors of five successful virtual schools agreed to share their "formulas for success" in…

Recalling a study about public attitudes toward schools in various countries, the author of this article asked Jouni Valijarvi of the University of Juvaskyla how Finns perceived their schools and whether PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results had any impact on their perceptions. Valijarvi was the senior author of The Finnish…

While the Department of Education boasts lower of school dropout rates, graduation rates are also decreasing in some areas. Although the percentage of students graduating on time has remained unchanged, the percentage of noncompleters who eventually get a high school diploma (through a GED or alternative program) increases yearly. Inadequate…

When critiquing a 1992 IEA study of reading in 31 nations, Herbert Walberg unfairly panned U.S. reading instruction, considering that American 9-year-olds finished second and 14-year-olds tied for eighth place. Apparently, "progress" was down for high-scoring countries. Two UCLA researchers discovered that the Los Angeles student…

Low achievement and high dropout rates among poor and minority students continue to plague U.S. society. While much attention over the past quarter century has focused on reforming the schools these students attend, little or no progress has been made in actually closing the achievement gaps or reducing the number of dropouts. Why? Aren't…

Student dropout rates of 272 public secondary schools of different sizes and organizations are compared using analysis of variance. Results are interpreted to support the suggestion that a secondary school can reduce its dropout rate by keeping the total enrollment over 400 students and by including grades 7 through 12. (MJL)

Illustrates some problems associated with the statistics used in popular statistical reports. (Author/DW)

Districts with declining enrollments spent about $200 more per student than the growing districts, had about three fewer students per teacher, averaged about $500 less in average teacher salaries, had a lower dropout rate, and had higher achievement scores. (Author/IRT)

A survey in the North Central area of policies and practices applied to students who marry while enrolled in public secondary schools. (Author)

Recent studies have argued that there is a dropout crisis in the U.S. But the authors in this article, find that this contention is based on flawed analyses of inadequate data. Using a much wider range of sources, they conclude that the situation is not nearly so dire as is commonly believed. (Contains 14 endnotes.)

Describes Sandia National Laboratories' wide-ranging analysis of local, state, and national education systems. On most measures (dropout and retention rates, standardized test scores, higher education enrollment, education spending, international comparisons, educator status, and work-force skills), lab found steady or slight improvement. Schools…