This book is the result of a study conducted with 200 high schools in the South to determine what factors make schools effective in educating students and creating a healthy social environment. The book is particularly concerned with improving desegregated high schools and presents specific recommendations for doing so. Using survey data from…

The paper reviews the published research literature that assesses the role of the secondary school extracurricular program in the overall development of adolescents. The studies reviewed are divided into four areas: Immediate Effects of Activity Participation which includes the variables of powerlessness, committedness, self-concept, moral…

Gifted students have been enrolling in high school vocational agriculture courses in increasing numbers in recent years, according to a mailed survey of 100 randomly selected schools in 10 randomly selected states, plus Pennsylvania. During the 1974-80 time period, enrollment of identified gifted students in the surveyed vocational agriculture…

A project entitled Relevant Experiences for Alternative Learning (Project REAL) was conducted to develop an exemplary experience-based career education program in Delaware. The project was designed to provide overall management and support staff for the program, develop the necessary instructional and curriculum materials for approximately sixty…

This report contains two studies. The first study was conducted in order to obtain a profile of Kansas students in the 1999 class of National Merit Semifinalists (NMSFs). A survey was mailed to 166 students. Data were analyzed in terms of age, gender, race, language, family characteristics, high schools attended, extracurricular activities,…

The rapid growth of high school clubs, the important educational functions in which they engage, and the close relationship they bear to the work of the school have given them a place of first importance among the school organizations carrying on extracurricular activities. Such clubs are a means of closing up the educational gap resulting from…

Annually assessed students' academic and social competence from grades 7 through 12. Found that school dropout rate was lower for at-risk students who earlier had, compared to those who had not, participated in extracurricular activities. Extracurricular involvement was only modestly related to early school dropout for students who had been judged…

Analyzes attitudinal and behavioral correlates of the following four categories of high school students from the High School and Beyond study: (1) scholar-athletes; (2) pure scholars; (3) pure athletes; and (4) nonscholar-nonathletes. Findings are discussed in terms of self-esteem, internal locus of control, and extracurricular involvement. (SLD)

Examined young adult participation in high school activities and identity group as predictors of later substance use, psychological adjustment, and educational and occupational outcomes. Found both participation and identity may consolidate specific skills, attitudes, values, and social networks that have a far-ranging impact on the transition to…

Analyzes data from a longitudinal study of high school youth to suggest that involvement in sports often has a strong and positive association with young womens' success in high school science. Associates participation in cheerleading with negative results. Summarizes both the functionalist and conflict theories regarding the purpose of sports.…

This digest describes three programs for middle and high school language minority students at risk of dropping out of school. Two of the programs are geared toward limited-English-proficient Hispanic youth, and the third, a vocational program, involves African-American students as well. The first program described is the Coca-Cola Valued Youth…

This study was designed to ascertain the dropout rates among American Indian students in three local secondary schools on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Lame Deer, Montana and to identify factors that contributed to school completion or noncompletion. The researchers collected data on three cohorts of students (1987-89, N=698) from Colstrip…

Inviting high school students to be a part of Close Up Washington, this brochure describes a program in which students from across the United States and around the world travel to Washington, D.C., to learn about the workings of the U.S. federal government. The brochure explains benefits of participating in the program and discusses activities in…

Principals are middle managers. Board members should have a superintendent who has a high regard for the principalship and who believes in the total team approach to school administration. They should allow principals to do the job they were hired to do--parental or citizen complaints should be referred to the principal instead of being personally…

Questionnaire data gathered from 142 high school students in a rural Montana town were used to identify the sources of influence in setting occupational and educational goals and to analyze the amounts of information transmitted from various categories of significant others. Results showed that for both occupation and education, peers and,…