Examines the effects of state policy, sociodemographic composition, and school structure on high school dropout rates in 1980. Reports that total educational expenditures per students' average daily attendance is a significant determinant of school structure with indirect effect on dropout rates. Concludes that family structure is a critical…

Effective, long-term dropout prevention will not occur without broad-based, indepth, and ongoing staff development that changes educators' behavior toward at-risk students. Staff development planners should recognize that students respond not to programs but to individualized, personally delivered solutions and assistance promoting youngsters'…

In three counties of western North Carolina, students who meet requirements of the New Century Scholars program during their last 6 years of secondary school are guaranteed a 2-year scholarship to Southwestern Community College. Financed by community fund-raising efforts, the program provides a close network of academic and social support for…

The School District of the City of Saginaw (Michigan) has annually reported on the rate and nature of the dropout population; this dropout report is the fourth edition of the State defined generation of dropout reports. Two hundred twenty-four, or 8% of Saginaw's 2,805 students in grades 9-12, voluntarily terminated their high school education…

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 examined dropout rates from Florida's 67 school districts and their…

This report contains summaries of dropout information as well as more detailed breakdowns that portray the dropout situation in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District in 1991-92. Statistics are reported in terms of annual rates as well as longitudinal rates. This report contains high school and junior high school rates for 1984-85 through…

This document comprises part 2 of a two-part evaluation of the third-year implementation of the New York City Board of Education's 3-year high school Dropout Prevention Initiative (DPI). It consists of reports on 8 special substudies of the program in year 3 (part 1 describes the DPI and presents the evaluation findings and recommendations.) The…

The Canadian government is meeting the rising demand for highly skilled workers with a $296.4 million national dropout prevention initiative over five years. This document, written in both English and French, describes the initiative. More than half of the funds will be allocated to programs and services, more than a quarter to mobilizing…

A study examined the relationship between students' vocational and nonvocational experiences while in high school and their decision to drop out. The study was based on data from the sophomore cohort of the High School and Beyond database (a longitudinal, nationally representative sample of approximately 27,000 students who were sophomores in 1980…

Graduation, Reality, and Dual-Role Skills (GRADS) is a vocational home economics program in Ohio for pregnant students and young parents in grades 7 through 12 in junior high schools, senior high schools, and vocational schools. Goals of the program are to: (1) increase the likelihood the participants will remain in school during pregnancy, after…

The five case studies in this volume concern at-risk youth. Disadvantaged youth programs in different states were studied by different authors: (1) Albuquerque, New Mexico (Richard Mendel); (2) Baltimore, Maryland (Edward C. Lorenz); (3) Hartford, Connecticut (Richard Funkhouser and Delsie Gandia-Fabian; (4) Oakland, California (David Snedeker);…

Based on research by the Migrant Education Secondary Assistance (MESA) project, this report presents final recommendations for the improvement of migrant student graduation rates and secondary education. The strongest areas of need revealed in MESA findings were: (1) better identification and recruitment of secondary migrant students and dropouts;…

Spurred by a national dropout rate of 25 percent, educators are examining causes of leaving school early, identifying high risk students, and devising student retention programs. This paper profiles the potential dropout, describes 10 characteristics of effective student retention programs, and describes three exemplary programs in Colorado,…

In an effort to identify the kinds of vocational experiences that appear to be the most promising in reducing the dropout rate, two distinct research strategies were used. The first strategy involved analysis of data available from the High School and Beyond Project, a nationally representative sample of students and schools surveyed in 1980 (when…

An eight-week summer program was conducted to prevent 80 high-risk adolescents from dropping out of high school. The 32 females and 48 males selected for the project were all residents of rural areas of northern Louisiana who had been identified by their public school guidance counselors as being at high risk of dropping out. The program model…