If non-completion rate is to be a useful performance indicator it must reflect the recent health of a course in a transparent and robust manner that enables comparisons to be made between groups of students and between courses of varied structures. For flexible degree programmes with varied attendance modes and multiple entry points, traditional…

With over two thirds of high school graduates going on to pursue postsecondary options after high school and over one fourth at 4-year institutions and nearly half at 2-year schools never reaching their sophomore year, it is evident that the transition from high school to college is a broken one for many students. There has been a nationwide call…

The OEYP state-funded program provides extended learning for students who are at risk of academic failure. This report summarizes Austin Independent School District's OEYP activities during 2008-2009.

School and College Ability Tests (SCAT), the Omnibus Personality Inventory, and questionnaire data collected indicated that, as compared to persisting students, voluntary withdrawals had higher verbal ability and were more intellectually oriented. Voluntary withdrawals had significantly higher SCAT scores than the failures and the female…

In order to determine whether there was a significant correlation between a student's academic standing in a course and the time when the student withdrew from the course, grades received by students in 14 high withdrawal-rate courses taught by five community college instructors were reviewed. For the purposes of the study, withdrawal was defined…

A resolution of the General Assembly of Virginia directed the State Council of Higher Education to study the volume and characteristics of freshman applicants and enrollees in the state-controlled institutions of higher education for the fall terms of 1966 and 1967. This document, consisting mainly of 203 tables, contains the results of this…

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the academic achievement of black students and students of other races at Okaloosa-Walton Junior College (OWJC) in terms of (1) hours of enrollment, (2) course withdrawals, (3) course failures, and (4) overall course completions. The subjects of this…

Since the number of students taking advantage of Roane State Community College's policy of allowing withdrawal from courses ("W" grade) up to the last day of class has increased from 14 percent of all grades given in fall 1972 to 23 percent of all grades given in fall 1974, an effort was made to determine some of the factors involved in…

This report reviews the literature on early departure from school in America, both past and present, in order to ascertain why students drop out of school, what the consequences are for the students who do so, and what schools can do to reduce the dropout rate. After a brief historical perspective on the problem, the social and economic costs of…

Exit interviews were conducted with 21 students who withdrew or were dismissed from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, School of Medicine. Female, minority, and rural students were disproportionately represented among students who left the program. Of 22 students who left the program during June 1983-January 1985, 16 left during the first 2…

Prerequisite courses are essential tools in many university curricula, but some educators have suggested that they may be detrimental if applied too stringently to exclude students from courses. A measure of the value of prerequisites is whether or not they promote student success. The strongest way to test the value of prerequisites is to compare…

This report presents the results of a review of course withdrawal and forgiveness policies at public community colleges and state universities in Florida, with a view toward standardizing such policies that impact articulation, the transfer of credit, and credit-hours-to-degree. It recommends that: (1) forgiveness, withdrawal, and incomplete…

Studies reveal that students from small high schools tend to do better at some Wisconsin State Universities, especially at WSU-Stevens Point. However, high school percentile rank, regardless of class size, is by far the best single predictor of academic success at WSU-Stevens Point. The present investigation was aimed at determining if students…

Results are reported from a study that attempted to find the objective effects of a 3-month high school teachers' strike on 134 first year university students. Findings indicate that no important differences existed between strike students and others with regard to grades, failures, or withdrawals. (IAH)