Overviews national data concerning the problems associated with the high dropout rate of migrant students. Stresses the importance of enhancing self-esteem of migrant children. Offers recommendations for national, state, and community action that emphasize empowering children and their families to break the cycles of poverty, abuse, and high…

A program in British Columbia places at-risk high school students with one teacher for the remainder of their high school years. The integrated curriculum, constructed to be relevant to their lives, combined with the emphasis on respect, compassion, trustworthiness, and tolerance have enabled almost 100 students to graduate from the program. (TD)

An innovative project in Fort Worth, Texas, is encouraging middle school students to start thinking about and planning for college. The collaboration involves local schools, college, the Aetna Foundation, and the College Board. (MSE)

Describes a pilot mentoring program that involved 19 college students working with preadolescent and adolescent at-risk Hispanic youth in a Texas border city. The program, which consisted of 10 weekly classes in citizenship awareness and community participation and involvement, focused on dropout prevention and preparation for citizenship. (SLD)

Examines the effects of state policy, sociodemographic composition, and school structure on high school dropout rates in 1980. Reports that total educational expenditures per students' average daily attendance is a significant determinant of school structure with indirect effect on dropout rates. Concludes that family structure is a critical…

Effective, long-term dropout prevention will not occur without broad-based, indepth, and ongoing staff development that changes educators' behavior toward at-risk students. Staff development planners should recognize that students respond not to programs but to individualized, personally delivered solutions and assistance promoting youngsters'…

A Tennessee district counsels seniors lacking sufficient credits to consider General Education Development (GED) tutoring. African-American females are generally "pulled out" by family reasons; African-American males feel "pushed out," following suspensions and expulsions. Potential dropouts are deterred by an alternative high school and a…

Many young Canadians drop out of school because they cannot cope with the information demand imposed upon them by school learning. A study was conducted to help at-risk students to enhance their metacognitive skills through cognitive augmentation and transfer training. All teachers involved in the project were interviewed by an external evaluator…

Noting that only some of the approaches to helping low achievers learn more successfully have been systematically studied to determine their effectiveness, this paper summarizes what research indicates will help low achievers improve performance, and provides a resource list of books and reports with more details on the topic. Following a brief…

Project Achieve Transition Services (PATS) is a four-year high school attendance improvement, dropout prevention project which targets late-entry students consisting primarily of immigrants, transfers, and long-term absentees. The program uses a case management approach to provide support services, instructional enhancements, and family outreach…

A project developed and implemented a plan to retain those adult basic education students who are likely to be successful if they stay enrolled in the program but who are likely to drop out if program staff do not intervene. The plan involved use of an assessment instrument to identify these at-risk students, development of an individualized…

The dropout problem in the United States is explored; and some suggestions for reducing the dropout rate are offered for parents, teachers, and principals. Several indicators have been recognized as placing a student at risk of dropping out of school. Dimensions of alienation have also been identified, as have social factors that contribute,…

This report summarizes two joint sessions held by the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education to hear testimony on the causes of high Native American dropout rates and on dropout prevention strategies. Educators and parents provided information defining the problem and outlining factors contributing…

This report presents evaluative information of the effectiveness of the Career Awareness and Resource Education (Project CARE) program in New York City. The program served 346 students of limited English proficiency. Participating students received instruction in English as a second language ESL, native language arts (NLA), the content areas, and…

This publication provides a variety of information on prevention and intervention programs for rural and urban children and adolescents. Drawing from a rural sociological perspective, the introductory paper defines "rural," discusses rural-urban economic and social differences, and lists indicators of risk for rural youth. It discusses the extent…