This report describes student technicians who dropped out of postsecondary education courses before qualifying for the New Zealand Certificate of Engineering (NZCE). The exploratory study describes some of the characteristics and progress of the students who dropped out of NZCE studies and investigates the reasons for high dropout among students.…

A review of research on dropouts from adult basic education (ABE) reveals several theoretical models relevant to the study of dropout and persistence in ABE, shows specific variables related to dropout behavior, provides insights as to who drops out and why, identifies some characteristics of disadvantaged adult learners, and reveals some problems…

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 summarizes research on retention and dropouts. Although there has been a recent resurgence of retention programs aimed at students who encounter subject-area difficulties, many studies have questioned the value of retention, especially if it is not accompanied by programs of remediation and individualized learning. However, researchers…

This study was conducted to develop a means for implementing proven recruitment strategies to attract and retain students in postsecondary vocational programs in Florida. In order to achieve this purpose, the following objectives were set: (1) to identify methods to overcome the most significant barriers to student retention identified by…

This practice-application digest addresses what vocational education can do to reduce the almost 30 percent dropout rate among U.S. students. The first section describes factors that place students at risk, focusing on factors included in the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's definition of the term "at-risk." In the next…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate retention efforts in Ontario (Canada) secondary schools in order to develop policy and support initiatives designed to reduce dropouts and improve retention rates. The study had four parts: (1) an analysis of credit accumulation for four cohorts and academic achievement patterns over 4 years in 16 schools;…

The primary purposes of this project were to provide data for developing operational proposals and programs for dealing with the dropout problem. Information and statistics were gathered about school dropouts in St. Cloud, Minnesota; age and grade, type of student, current functioning and future plans, expressed reasons for leaving, etiological…

This study represents an attempt to identify variables which might differentiate continuing students from withdrawn students at New College of Hofstra University and, consequently, variables that might be worthwhile monitoring in the future. A total of 55 students who had withdrawn over a period of three semesters (September 1973 to January 1975)…

Recommendations for developing educational programs for high school dropout-prone students are presented in this publication. Data compiled on dropouts by the South Carolina State Department of Education indicate that approximately one out of every two first graders in South Carolina public schools drops out of school before completing the…

During the school year 1969-1970 Quincy Public Schools in Massachusetts, a community of 90,000 adjacent to Boston, conducted an intensive investigation of all students leaving school for reasons other than transfer to another educational institution and death. Interviews with these students, their parents and an exhaustive analysis of school…

The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between selected factors and voluntary attrition occurring during the freshman year at Montgomery College (Maryland) in the 1969-70 academic year. The study sample was 952 of the 1748 freshmen: 476 students that had voluntarily terminated attendance at college prior to beginning their second…

Argues that most dropout prevention attempts have been hampered by the lack of an unbiased, coherent and easily accessible source of data on the total and at risk populations of young people. Provides preliminary data on several groups of students not characterized by traditional dropout descriptors. Offers recommendations for improvement in…

The "Focus on Basics" serial concerns adult Learning and literacy. The eight short articles in this theme issue are all devoted to the topic of "learner motivation": (1) "Power, Literacy, and Motivation" (Greg Hart); (2) "The First Three Weeks: A Critical Time for Motivation" (B. Allan Quigley); (3) "Build Motivation by Building Learner…

The Texas Education Agency prepares an annual report on dropouts in Texas public schools. This report contains information on the annual dropout rate used in the accountability system and state attrition rates. It also includes a series of longitudinal secondary school completion/student status rates. Of the 1,818,940 students who attended grades…