There has been very little previous evaluation research that examines the effects of interventions on persistence.

In a yearlong project, Britain's Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) investigated why some students leave their educational programs before achieving their certificates or diplomas. The project drew information on completion rates from the BTEC database. Views of BTEC centers' staff were canvassed through a national survey covering…

Designed as a channel for communication among City University of New York faculty regarding initiatives to reduce attrition and promote student success, this publication contains articles on various aspects of student development and bilingualism. The volume contains: (1) "The Process Is the Purpose," an introduction by Anthony F. Russo,…

To address the issues of student recruitment and retention in Florida, a three-year research study was conducted. The three phases of the study sought the following: (1) to describe barriers to recruitment and retention of disadvantaged, unemployed, underemployed, out-of-school youth as perceived by students, teachers, counselors, and…

This article reviews the literature on university student attrition and comments on general implications for secondary school counselors. The reasons that dropouts leave school are assessed, e.g., lack of interaction with faculty, a perceived lack of progress, and financial/family problems; and characteristics of non-returning students are…

This document reviews the literature on elementary and secondary school dropouts and notes the effects and possible solutions to the dropout problem. Statistical findings about dropouts from the 1960's to the present are presented along with methods of predicting who the dropouts will be. Dropout characteristics, including psychological, social,…

While the educational structure seems to meet the needs of most students, a small but significant minority does not see the need to complete high school. To improve the identification of potential dropouts and describe the differences between dropouts and persisters, 536 Kentucky high school students and dropouts were studied. An unexpected…

A review of research on student attrition suggests eight factors influencing students' decisions to remain in a course or in college that may respond to college, counselor, and teacher interventions. First, as low grades are consistently revealed as contributing to attrition, appropriate course placement, basic skills instruction, criterion-based…

As a response to the problem of adult-student retention at two-year and four-year urban colleges, a new structural model, "Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy, Perceived Stress, and an Integrated Model of Student Persistence" (Sandler, 1999), has been identified to better explain the integration, finances, behavior, and career development of…

Describes the Improving Access Through Technology (IATT) project conducted by the Florida Postsecondary Planning Commission which attempts to use technology to increase student access to courses, thereby decreasing time to degree. Identifies student difficulty with math and science courses as a primary cause of lengthening time to degree. (JDI)

An approach to fiscal accountability used at Emporia State University (Kansas) demonstrates how a student academic advising center can improve fiscal stability by increasing retention and graduation rates, thereby increasing enrollment-based appropriations. The method links retention and graduation figures and trends for each year and trends in…

Reviews recent research on retention and achievement among Hispanic community college students, focusing on influences on persistence, transfer rates, and financial aid. Identifies needs for additional research, curricular reforms, and retention programs stressing counseling and advisement to promote the development of clear, concrete and…

The Student Participation And Retention Keys (SPARK) project at Blue Ridge Community College sought to determine why adult basic education (ABE) and General Educational Development (GED) students dropped out of the college's basic skills program and how student retention could be improved. With input from current and former students, a survey form…

As the second phase of a three-phase study of why students leave Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) and why others remain, this research focuses on three questions: (1) what were the reasons for discontinuing studies at MATC? (2) what were the overall perceptions of the 269 leavers in 1989 regarding institutional and student services? and (3)…

A project geared to adult educators in rural central Pennsylvania addressed the topics of recruitment and retention of students in adult education programs in order to help the educators find solutions to these problems. Seminars conducted twice during 1993 covered the following topics: methods of recruitment, overcoming text anxiety, curbing the…