While the number of minority students in postsecondary education has climbed since 1970, the rates of minority graduation are still too low. Factors adding to the dropout rate include: inadequate finances, poor academic preparation, low motivation, poor study habits, low basic skills, and low institutional support. This paper describes support…

A program entitled Project COPS (Career Oriented Peer Tutoring System) is a comprehensive peer tutoring and advisement approach that was undertaken to improve student retention at Middlesex County College in Edison, New Jersey. The principal goal of the project was to reach potentially unsuccessful entering freshmen students and to offer them…

This report is the second part of a study which sought to determine whether there is a set of in-school factors which might help explain the differences in dropout rates among schools with very similar student bodies. The study was designed as an in-depth ethnographic examination of four pairs of Chicago (Illinois) public high schools. One school…

This paper reviews the literature on urban school dropouts and the experiences of superintendents in attempting to lower the dropout rate. The paper is divided into two major sections. Part I examines how a mixture of societal, community, family and other influences increase the chances that an at-risk student will experience little success in…

This publication is designed to accompany the "Dropout Prevention" manual (1984) and to serve as a guide for the staff development training of administrators, faculty, and staff in the initiation of a dropout prevention program. The staff development program contains materials to assist staff in becoming aware of the scope of the dropout…

Proceedings of a 1980 conference in Australia on the problems of first-year students, which focus on student discontinuation, are presented. The contents include three papers, discussion group reports, and a report on the outcome of the discussion groups, policy proposals, and recommendations. In "First Year Students: Selection and…

American Indian high school students have a number of alternative schools available to them: they may attend public schools, or schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, churches, or the tribes themselves. At both elementary and secondary levels Indian students avail themselves of the various alternative schools. One survey indicates that…

Unemployment among young people, particularly for minorities and the disadvantaged, has been a persistent and growing problem in this country for the past decades. In response to this situation, Congress in 1977 enacted the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act, the first comprehensive job and training legislation devoted solely to youth…

This paper recommends new strategies in the use of data in monitoring enrollment distribution, retention, and graduation rates of minority students in predominantly white colleges. Surveys of current literature show there are three significant questions: (1) Who drops out? (2) Why do they drop out? and (3) How can the overall dropout rate be…

Low ability freshmen enrolled in a 1972 fall semester remedial mathematics course at Santa Barbara City College (California) were randomly divided into three groups: (1) a control group comprised of 62 students meeting for one hour per week in small subgroups to study programmed materials; (2) a classroom tutoring group comprised of 67 students…

Project Emerge, funded under Title VIII of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act, is located in the Model Cities Area, a black-inhabited west side section of Dayton, Ohio. The target school student population is 2,300 of which 20 percent come from families with low incomes. Project Emerge's major objectives are to reduce the dropout rate in…

The Edison Project is an ESEA Title VIII dropout prevention program for 250 tenth grade students who were identified as potential dropouts on the basis of previous attendance, grades, and grade level retention. Some of the problems that affect student attendance have been found to be gangs, money, race, and relevance of education. The project was…

Project Stay is a demonstration project of the St. Louis Public Schools, funded under Title VIII of Public Law 90-247, with several programs concentrating on reducing the number of dropouts. The project has the purpose of identifying students who are potential dropouts, determining their individual needs, and developing programs to meet those…

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a counseling program designed to improve pupil self-esteem, thereby hopefully reducing the number of future school dropouts The program was conducted at Cooley Education and Vocational Guidance Center and served 87 pupils. The need for such a program was apparent when the high rate of secondary…

Lack of money may not be the major factor in student dropout rates. Some studies indicate that attrition rates are more affected by learner attitudes and goals and a good "fit" between student and institution. Current theories about student retention and attrition are reviewed. (Editor/LBH)