This case study describes a 2-year (1988-90) demonstration dropout prevention program, a collaboration between a rural school and a university. The dropout prevention program attempts to identify effective teaching strategies that will increase the academic successes of at-risk sixth-grade students and expand the use of those strategies among the…

The fourth revised edition of the migrant counselor's handbook emphasizes administration of the migrant counselor's duties, knowledge of procedures, and functional aids to carrying out work with migrant students. Part I provides definitions, explains counselor responsibilities and procedures, and includes in-state and out-of-state programs and…

This publication presents the results of a study undertaken to measure the economic costs of students who drop out of secondary school in Canada and summarizes the social and economic costs of dropping out. The primary objectives of the report are to raise awareness of these costs among the business community and to motivate all stakeholders to…

A survey was conducted to evaluate nationally the retention of undergraduates at institutions of higher education. In particular the survey sought to: determine the rates at which full-time students persisted in and completed higher education; identify factors that institutional representatives felt influence students to leave school; and describe…

Louisiana Tech University conducted a program to reduce drop-out probabilities for at-risk special needs adolescents as part of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). Eighty-six students between the ages of 14 and 16 were chosen as "at-risk" based on economic disadvantage, lower academic performance, behavioral and adjustment problems,…

The Dayton (Ohio) Public Schools have developed a comprehensive dropout prevention program to meet the needs of at-risk middle school students. The general needs of the middle school student were addressed through a restructuring of the middle schools that limited the schools to grades 7 and 8 and organized them into "cluster teams" to…

The design and features of a model minority retention program are discussed. Components of successful retention programs include: commitment to attract and retain minority students, ongoing sessions to sensitize the campus community to minority students, academic involvement, tenured minority faculty and staff, support services, and minority…

The Student Support Services Program, in the student affairs division, has been a counseling and tutorial program at Chicago State University since 1978. The program's goal is to increase the retention and graduation rates of the university's students. The program's focus is to monitor extensively each participant's first year at the university…

Tools and methods designed to assist colleges in analyzing and managing student attrition are described in this manual. The proposed strategies are intended to help the individual college identify patterns and causes of attrition and to establish reasonable goals and means for reducing attrition. The manual consists of five parts. Part I provides…

California's sometimes controversial efforts to keep Hispanic students in school and interested in college education include tutoring programs, financial aid, curriculum development, partnerships between school districts and higher education institutions, Spanish-language and Hispanic-oriented recruitment and encouragement efforts, and transfer of…

This final report describes activities and accomplishments of a 3-year, federally supported project at the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) to improve the retention of African-American students in undergraduate premedical programs by developing an improved personal and social support system for black students interested in the health…

Educators working to improve dropout prevention programs should closely examine the development of defensive overlays in children's world views. Efforts to neutralize defensive world views within existing dropout prevention initiatives should refocus efforts to be more holistic. Such neutralization may best succeed in small schools. (SM)

Questionnaires that were developed to measure factors in the academic persistence of minority college students were administered to 454 Mexican American students at two large southwestern universities. Both the Cultural Congruity Scale and the University Environment Scale were significant predictors of academic persistence of Mexican American…

Application of a grounded theory approach in a study of 18 minority students in professional programs at a research university found 3 strong influences in students' choice of professional field and likelihood in achieving educational goals: family support; ideal of service to community; and determination. Implications for minority recruitment and…

A study investigated pre-enrollment variables as predictors of 1-year retention of 1,140 first-time students at a community college. Risk of dropping out was associated with lower high school grade point average, 20-24 year age range, part-time attendance, and being a member of an ethnic minority other than Asian. (Author/MSE)