This guide was designed to help local educators develop and implement a comprehensive program to support pregnant and parenting teenagers and assure them access to the resources and models they need to complete their education. Section I includes an overview of the demands faced by these young people and reviews the available research on…

Even though middle schools are important in retaining at-risk students, the organization and curriculum of most of them do not meet the developmental needs of young adolescents. Improvements should focus on making middle and junior high schools function less like large, impersonal high schools and more like caring, nurturing elementary schools,…

As a response to legislative demands, the Texas School Dropout Survey described in this document attempted to identify the magnitude of the dropout problem, regional characteristics or causes of the problem, costs associated with dropping out, and programs currently available for serving the dropout population. Twenty-four major findings of the…

This report provides an overview of the phenomenon of early school leaving through presentation and discussion of relevant research issues, concerns, and retention strategies for potential leavers. It includes a brief review of the current literature with an emphasis on Canadian and Saskatchewan research. The extent of the early school leaving…

In the spring of 1988 the South Carolina exit examination will be administered for the first time to determine if tenth-grade students will receive a regular diploma when they graduate from high school. School districts will be required by the Education Improvement Act to provide remediation to students who do not pass the exit examination, and…

This report summarizes the results of a large-scale study of the dropout problem in Texas. The report is divided into three major sections which deal with these questions, respectively: (1) What is the magnitude of the dropout problem in Texas? (2) What is the economic impact of the dropout problem for Texas? and (3) What is the nature and…

This document describes an innovative dropout prevention program, Academic Support for Students and Employment Training (Project ASSET). It explains how participants were selected from students considered to be dropout risks because of attendance, grade-level test results, or dropout history and extenuating circumstances. Three types of support…

This resource packet provides an overview of the wide variety of approaches used by educators, government officials, minority organizations, and foundations to reduce teenage pregnancy or to help teenagers who are pregnant or are parents stay in school. The first section lists, describes and gives the addresses and possible contact person of…

GRADS (Graduation, Reality, and Dual Role Skills) is a vocational home economics in-school, secondary program for pregnant students and/or young parents. Curriculum for the program, designed to keep students in school until graduation, includes positive prenatal and postnatal care; child development and parenting education; and goal setting toward…

This report reviews the current literature on dropouts and school discipline and discusses a survey of ten North Country high schools used to generate information to be used by schools when re-evaluating policies regarding these issues. Survey data was collected using questionnaires completed by the principals of the ten schools. Recommendations…

Project MACK's major goal was to provide a comprehensive school program at McClymonds High School in Oakland, California that would reduce the dropout rate, improve student achievement, reduce absenteeism and class-cutting, and improve student attitudes toward school. Project components included 1) Career Cluster Program, which focused on work…

Even as school standards rise, the on-time graduation rate remains generally stable and the proportion of the American population that has completed high school is the greatest in our history. Negative estimates are based on a lack of definitions and data discrepancies. Two strategies for increasing the graduate rate are discussed. (PS)

This study explores whether propensity score methods produce unbiased estimates of program impacts by comparing experimental and propensity score impacts of dropout prevention programs on four student outcomes (dropping out, absenteeism, educational aspirations, and self-esteem). It also estimates the standard error of propensity score impacts…

This annual report presents comprehensive findings about high school completion and non-completion in Texas public schools. It includes state summaries of the annual grades 7-12 dropout rate used in the accountability system and a new series of longitudinal high school completion/student status rates. The series includes four-year rates for…

Texas has the third highest dropout rate in the nation. Various organizations that measure the Texas dropout rate using different methods disagree about actual numbers of dropouts. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) reports that 26,901 students in grades 7-12 dropped out in the 1996-97 school year. Dropouts were 29 percent White, 18 percent African…