This paper analyzes the value of student retention practices, or of flunking students, and presents viable options. Advocates of retention argue that it prevents future academic failure, ensures mastery of the basic skills necessary for success in higher grades, and motivates students. However, others argue that retention is associated with…

A multidimensional perspective is provided of the achievement and educational experiences elementary school students of Mexican origin in a major northern city. To deepen understanding of the complex interplay of factors that ultimately cause many of these students to become educational casualties, traditional research methods of ethnography were…

This report contains research findings on student achievement and retention at New York City alternative high schools serving dropouts and potential dropouts. After a summary and introduction, statistics are presented which reveal that alternative schools facilitate positive changes in student performance. Next, reasons for students' dropping out…

This paper recommends new strategies in the use of data in monitoring enrollment distribution, retention, and graduation rates of minority students in predominantly white colleges. Surveys of current literature show there are three significant questions: (1) Who drops out? (2) Why do they drop out? and (3) How can the overall dropout rate be…

This is the third and final year-end report on the START program in Alberta (Canada). START was a dropout prevention project funded by Alberta Education and Alberta/NWT Region Human Resources Development Canada, successor to Employment and Immigration Canada. START addressed dropout prevention through a variety of school and community initiatives…

While some comfort can be taken from the figures which indicate a growing retention rate, there is considerable concern over the very large percentage of students who do not complete full schooling. In the first experiment in order to address the question of the differential effects of variables on school retention across a range of cultural…

This paper presents the findings of an ethnographic study of a state-run and state-funded remediation program for economically disadvantaged adolescents. The program's main purpose was to reintegrate students defined as "at risk" of dropping out back into their schools. The program, the Ordered School Reinforcement Program (OSRP), was implemented…

This practicum paper describes the design and implementation of a mentoring program to improve the academic achievement of black male urban high school students. The program utilizes black adult mentors from both the community and the school's faculty. Mentors function as role models, advisers, and resource persons. The program design includes the…

Among Blacks attending traditionally Black colleges and those attending traditionally White colleges, college experiences affected outcomes more significantly than social background or high school experience. Thus, type of college experience determined differences in academic achievement, occupational aspirations, and dropout proneness between…

Describes a study conducted at Kirkwood Community College, Iowa, to determine if student scores on the American College Testing Program's Assessment of Student Skills for Entry Transfer (ASSET) placement test could help identify potential dropouts among vocational students and to compare the predictive validity of high school grades and ASSET…

START was a dropout prevention project funded by Alberta Education and Alberta/NWT Region Human Resources Development Canada, successor to Employment and Immigration Canada. START addressed dropout prevention through a variety of school and community initiatives primarily targeting students in the junior high school years. In the 1993-94 school…

A sample of dropouts is surveyed to determine their reasons for dropping out of school and to assess the factors currently used by the Dade County (Florida) school system to identify at-risk students. Data from telephone surveys of a randomly-selected sample of 2,779 persons who dropped out of grades 7 through 12 during 1986-87, 1987-88, and…

The influence of academic, demographic, and social characteristics of college freshmen on sophomore enrollment status was investigated, along with reasons for attrition. A total of 139 freshmen at St. Edward's University in Texas were surveyed at the beginning and end of the freshman year, using the Survey of Entering Freshmen and the End of…

The Home-School-Community Agent (HSCA) Project of the Columbus, Ohio Public Schools was successful in identifying disruptive pupils and helping them make some positive adjustment to those aspects of their lives that interfere with their success in school. Even though definitive gains in pupil attitudes fell slightly below the project goal, the…

This report favors a systems-oriented evaluation for improving minority student achievement, an inclusive approach, which may require funds to be (at least temporarily) withdrawn from other research activities. When financial resources are limited, such an evaluation may focus on a relatively limited range of related evaluation issues. In…