Describes the Youth Opportunity Program at the Central Islip, New York, Psychiatric Center and evaluates its effectiveness in preventing school dropout and providing career training. (ST)

Looks at European education, training, and youth initiatives to meet the challenge of social and economic exclusion. Articles discuss unemployment, poor living conditions, and inadequate education and training; dropouts; maintaining skill levels; coordinated training programs; the role of schools; immigrant children; and youth policies. Lists the…

Describes the revitalization of Evarts High School in a poverty-stricken area of rural Kentucky. Reforms included (1) adding 120 electives to the curriculum; (2) beginning a school news service; (3) producing a weekly video program aired on cable television; and (4) offering privilege cards for attendance, achievement, and participation in…

A proposed intervention model for at-risk students with limited English proficiency and disabilities combines the characteristics of successful dropout prevention programs and the best practices of vocational special education and bilingual vocational training. The model includes elements of access, retention, and transition. (SK)

Describes several general dropout prevention strategies, presents information on career education and its phases (career awareness, career orientation, career exploration, and career preparation), and discusses the importance of career education for children with disabilities. How career education can be integrated into the curriculum is also…

Using a Delphi approach, 10 experts identified 186 practices from the fields of transition and dropout prevention that would be effective with high-risk students, including those with mild disabilities. Rating these practices indicates that many prevention practices are important and feasible to implement. (SLD)

Describes a new instrument to predict dropouts, the Student At-Risk Identification Scale (SARIS). The SARIS consists of two subscales, one from student records and one that is a self-report. Scale construction is described, and narrative data are presented, along with evidence of reliability and validity. Predictive and diagnostic values of the…

Mexican descent students leave school before completions at a much higher rate than other ethnic groups. Marginalization is one contributing factor. Thirty-two Mexican descent students were interviewed with two main objectives: What marginalization factors did they experience in their secondary schools? What factors allowed them to overcome…

The primary goal of a districtwide dropout-prevention program is to develop, implement, and enhance instructional and programmatic components that have proven effective in educational research and practice and thus resulted in fewer students dropping out of school prior to high school graduation. This paper describes the development and…

Project RETAIN (Retention in Education Technical Assistance and Information Network) is a Florida project that assists school districts through identification and dissemination of effective practices that keep students with mild disabilities in school. One part of the project was the development of a database of school district efforts in the area…

This West Virginia community resource guide discusses the growing crisis of school dropouts, reviews some of the consequences of dropping out of school, and provides guidance for schools and communities who seek to initiate a dropout prevention program. After an introductory overview of the dropout problem; the human, health, and educational…

This article describes the use of activity counseling with borderline dropout high school students. The activity counseling consisted of urban encounters followed by group sessions in which students exchanged stories, opinions and feelings. These students have demonstrated improvement in self-concept, credit earning, and productivity. (SJL)

In the 1988-89 school year, the Austin (Texas) Independent School District's Office of Research and Evaluation undertook a new dropout research project. Part of this initiative, termed Project GRAD, attempted to develop a statistical equation by which one could predict which students were likely to drop out. If reliable predictive information…

Students drop out of school because of a variety of family, economic, and racial factors that can be categorized as either alienation, lack of motivation, or disadvantage. The key to reducing the dropout rate is helping youth to overcome their sense of disconnection. Students with low motivation to attend school have shown improvement in school…

Changes that might reduce dropout rates as high school graduation standards are raised are discussed. A review of research on successful dropout prevention programs reveals four common characteristics: (1) they separate potential dropouts from other students; (2) they have strong vocational components; (3) they utilize out-of-class learning; and…