Compared the characteristics of friends, the environments of the friendship network, and the nature of peer relations of students (N=191) at-risk and not at risk of leaving high school. Results indicate that at risk students had more dropout friends, more working friends, fewer school friends, and fewer same-sex friends. (RJM)

Despite much research on dropouts, little information exists on the education of dropouts after they leave high school. That a substantial proportion of dropouts complete high school within a few years appears not to be widely known. Without understanding the nature and extent of this phenomenon, the severity and impact on society of the dropout…

This report is concerned with students who either dropped out or were dismissed from grades 9 through 12 during 1983-84 in 14 school systems in Arkansas. It is intended for use by state government, the State Department of Education, state and local policymakers, school administrators and staffs, parents, and young people. The data presented in…

The U.S. Department of Education and various education commentators maintain that dropout rates have been decreasing for African-Americans and the school population as a whole. This paper presents evidence that dropout rates may be going up rather than down and identifies reasons for the conflicting data. The reasons include varied definitions of…

Behind the negative composite profile of school dropouts often lie the internalized characteristics of low self-esteem, thwarted ambition, and personal failure. This document presents an analysis of several different demographic, behavioral, and academic characteristics of students who withdrew from grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 in the Nashville…

High school dropouts are usually academic underachievers who adjust to social environments with difficulty. When they leave school, they develop even greater behavior problems and have more trouble getting employment than do high school graduates. To prevent dropouts, schools try to find funds for dropout prevention programs, work with agencies…

This report of the number and percentage of senior high school students who left school before graduating found that: (1) 7% of the fall 1981 high school enrollment left before the end of the 1981-1982 school year; (2) leavers accounted for 6% from regular high schools enrollment, 51% from continuation high schools, and 7% from other high schools;…

This document presents the findings and recommendations of a study that investigated students who leave school before graduating. The study attempted to determine the proportion of young people who leave school early versus those who graduate, and examined the subsequent schooling/training and job experiences of early leavers. The study…

The study provides an overview of what national surveys and the literature say about school dropouts, defined as persons who are neither enrolled in school nor high school graduates. For the last decade, the dropout rate for youth age 16-24 has remained roughly the same, about 13-14 percent. Hispanics, Blacks, and economically and educationally…

The study attempts to answer the following questions: (1) do the characteristics of a school with a low dropout rate differ significantly from the characteristics of a school with a high dropout rate; (2) does the dropout rate predict the quality of education received at the school? Methods and findings are summarized and suggestions are made for…

One hundred individuals who dropped out of high school in Lawrence County, Alabama, during the 1986-87 school year were studied in order to help formulate ways schools could prevent students from dropping out and ideas on how to create advertising about available adult education to which such dropouts would be receptive. A former in-home adult…

The San Diego City Schools collected statistics about grades 9-12 students who withdrew from school during the 1979-80 school year. The study's purpose was to determine how many of these former students did not enroll in schools elsewhere and, therefore, should be considered school leavers. The following generalizations may be made from the…

The School District of the City of Saginaw (Michigan) has annually reported on the rate and nature of the dropout population; this dropout report is the eleventh edition of the state defined generation of dropout reports. One hundred and fourteen, or 5% of Saginaw's 2,292 students in grades 9-12, terminated their high school education between…

This paper presents a four-fold typology developed as a general theory of student motivation to stay in school and work hard at learning tasks. Each of the four-fold categories is described with an initial statement of the specific source of student motivation, an analysis of how the source fits in more general motivational theories, and how the…

The research reported is a descriptive normative survey utilizing the data available from the required quarterly reporting of the high school districts in Cook County. In suburban Cook County there are 27 secondary school districts and two unit districts, including Chicago. The 28 suburban secondary school districts are comprised of 68 high school…