"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Setting the Stage for New High Schools": Alliance, National League of Cities Cohost Capitol Hill Briefing…

Supported by state aid, New York City schools developed a plan to reduce the dropout rate and improve attendance during 1984-85. The program focused on high-risk middle and high school students with severe attendance problems and featured attendance outreach, alternative educational programs, and guidance, counseling, health, and other services.…

Four years ago, to address disengaged students in Franklin, Tennessee, Williamson County School District turned to an alternative program called the middle-college high school. This concept allows high school students to complete their coursework on a college campus. More than 30 middle-college high schools serve disengaged students nationwide.…

School boards should require districts take the following actions: (1) make programs for at-risk students an ongoing priority; (2) assign the same quality of staff for at-risk programs as for other programs; (3) hold staff members, students, and administrators strictly accountable; and (4) insist that all district departments give equal services…

Three off campus private alternative schools have been supported, in part, by the Portland, Oregon, Public Schools. The students, mostly high school age, are largely dropouts or on the verge of dropping out of school. Many were referred because of behavior, attendance, or other discipline problems. At least half of the students in each school have…

Eight alternative educational programs that are part of the Portland, Oregon, Public School District are reviewed in this report. Responses from principals and program coordinators at each school to a comprehensive questionnaire provide information concerning staffing, student characteristics, facilities, course offerings, expenditure per student,…

The costly supplemental or alternative programs that combat chronic school failure and continued high dropout rates are not always effective for the following reasons: (1) students do not always find out which programs are available, and (2) if no suitable program is available, there is usually no one responsible for trying to create one. People…

This paper identifies and assesses factors that may characterize students at risk of dropping out, based on a ninth grade class of Cincinnati (Ohio) public school students which was followed for five years, from 1984-85 to 1988-89. The paper aims to develop a quick, easy, and reliable method that teachers, counselors, and principals can use to…

National dropou figures hover around 46 percent, according to the U.S. Office of Education. School business partnerships, including occupational training, counseling, and preemployment experience, have been effective in reducing the dropout rate in many schools. The use of computers in teaching traditional subjects has proved attractive to…

This resource directory presents profiles of 86 programs serving at-risk students at all grade levels in Vermont schools in order to share useful information about current programs and services. Educators and others can benefit from considering programs and practices already in place and adopting or adapting these to meet the need of their…

This interim evaluation compares the initiation, design, and curriculum of two school-based "academy" programs in Oakland (California) high schools and examines their links to the school district and the business community. The academy model of schools-within-a-school originated in Philadelphia. The Health Academy at Oakland Technical…

The Attendance Improvement/Dropout Prevention (AI/DP) Program is a six-component program involving selected high schools, middle schools, elementary schools and nontraditional school settings in New York City. This study of the program included site visits, examination of student records, staff interviews, and analyses of information from the…

Demographic trends show that non-anglo and limited English proficient (LEP) populations are increasing dramatically in public schools. They already make up the majority of the student body in California's largest urban school districts. They are also disproportionately susceptible to dropping out. This Congressional testimony presents approaches…

The Health Academy and the Media Academy, two innovative high school intervention programs for at-risk youth in Oakland (California), are examined. A collaborative effort of the school district, business, and community, the academies are school-within-a-school programs that engage about 120 at-risk students each in specific academic curricula for…

This report evaluates the effectiveness of the Urban Academy program, a dropout prevention demonstration program involving a collaborative effort between Community School District 10 in the Bronx (New York) and the Victim Services Agency (VSA), a social service agency, to provide increased instructional support and social services to 78 at-risk…