A cooperative effort between the Rockville Centre Free Union School District and the Far West Laboratory evaluated the implementation and outcomes of Greenhouse, an alternative high school program using the experience based career education (EBCE) curriculum. Evaluation criteria included four process objectives and the following student learning…

Drawing from a study of exemplary community college programs, offers recommendations for increasing support for at-risk students through preenrollment activities, orientation programs, elimination of late registration, basic skills assessment, improved financial aid, expanded mentoring programs, and increased problem solving and literacy…

This program outlines the combined efforts of schools, social service agencies, community agencies, and the juvenile court system to reduce days lost by truancy. Also presented are the services necessary to support long-range remediation of truancy and related risk factors. The program was initiated at an inner-city public school with…

This report evaluates the effectiveness of the Attendance Improvement Dropout Prevention (AIDP) program during the 1987-88 school year, which provided services to New York City (New York) middle school students at risk of becoming truant or dropping out of school. Chapter 1, "Introduction," contains the following sections: (1)…

This report presents the Academic Retention and Talent Retrieval components of the Special Services Program at Northern Illinois University. The support structures are described in detail, including: CHANCE counseling, which assists students with academic and financial planning, personal growth, peer tutoring, and career counseling; and the Talent…

This report reviews the research literature from 1975-1983 on potential secondary school dropouts and strategies for effective dropout prevention programs. The information provided is intended to help communities in modifying and/or constructing treatment programs for potential dropouts. The report is divided into three sections. In the first…

Student engagement represents a critical benchmark of educational effectiveness for graduate as well as undergraduate students. This chapter presents seven principles for good practice in engaging and connecting graduate and professional students to the larger campus community and provides examples of exemplary programs.

Although attrition is repeatedly described as the number one problem in adult basic education (ABE), the raw numbers of attrition rates do not tell the whole story. Studies show noncompleters in both ABE and higher education sometimes leave when they feel their goals have been realized. Counting adults who "stop out" as dropouts is also…

This paper presents an analysis of a California state mandated effort to reduce dropout rates. In particular, the analysis looks at which program components and strategies are successful in increasing school holding power and what organizational and administrative factors are linked to the decision to actually implement the program as designed.…

The problem of early school leavers within a system that offers a wide range of vocational training at the secondary level is examined. Focus is on factors that influence a student to opt for a vocational program rather than remaining in a comprehensive high school or dropping out of school. By means of interviews and school attitude…

The Career Intern Program (CIP), inititated by the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America (OIC/A) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1972, is an alternative high school for dropouts and potential dropouts and for youth who are otherwise educationally and economically disadvantaged and unemployable. CIP operates with the endoresment of,…

Considers different types of general purpose software being adapted by educators for use with at-risk students. Surveys software on basic skills, creativity and thinking skills, videodisks, and administrative packages. Includes a directory of products designed specifically for at-risk students. (MVL)

Researchers investigated whether enrollment in high school vocational/business courses had more holding power than personal, social factors, using High School and Beyond survey data to examine 12 variables. Peer interest, sense of social belonging, and relationships with school staff differentially related to persistence, but participation in…

Student and institutional characteristics related to college freshman persistence were studied. Persistence was examined for 5 institutions (5,950 students) at 4 points in time: end of first term, reenrollment in the spring, end of spring term, and reenrollment in the fall of the sophomore year. Data from a variety of sources were used, and…

Ohio's Occupational Work Adjustment (OWA) program is a one- to two-year ungraded vocational program for fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds who have been identified as potential dropouts from the regular educational program. Begun on a pilot basis in 1967, OWA served over 80,000 students in 499 programs during the 1981-82 school year. The goal of OWA,…