In this important resource, Dr. Fleming (a noted expert in the field of minority retention) draws on educational evaluations she has developed in the course of her distinguished career. This book analyzes the common factors and the role institutional characteristics play in minority student retention to show what really works in increasing…

This report provides statistical evidence that presents a picture at variance with the conventional portrayal of inner city youth. Using data from a national longitudinal study of high school students, the High School and Beyond survey, the study shows that young people display more resilience than they are usually given credit for. Comparison of…

High school dropout rates in many major urban settings in the United States have remained above 50% for more than three decades. This dropout crisis should now be considered evidence of an endemic lack of appreciation for formal education in city locales. United States federal policy initiatives have concentrated the nation on notions of teacher…

The everyday lives and the cultural identities of early school-leavers in the Republic of Ireland are explored, drawing up a political practice, a cultural politics, that relates to the position of early school-leavers. This practice is theorized within a poststructuralist and post-Marxist framework. Part 1 presents conversations with urban early…

The Educational Learning and Enrichment Center (ELEC) entered into a contract with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) (Texas) to provide a community-based alternative education program for HISD eligible students who had dropped out of school and were considered to be at risk of not completing their basic education. The 1996-97…

The study reported concentrated on school leavers in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) who returned (dropbacks) to Job Corps Programs over an 8-year period. Interviews with 100 dropbacks explored who left school, why they left school, what caused them to come back, and the kinds of interventions that might succeed with other students. Part 1 provides a…

Reducing absences is the most readily available strategy that high schools have for reducing the number of dropouts. A sample of approximately 2,000 students who entered three Oregon urban high schools in the Fall of 1983 or 1984 was studied in order to establish criteria for identifying students who were at-risk of not graduating. The group was…

Results of a study of an experimental and demonstration job training project (Chicago JOBS Project) for approximately 1,500 underemployed "functionally illiterate" inner-city Negro youth are reported. The project, which lasted from September of 1963 to the summer of 1964, included basic education, vocational training, and group and…

Findings of a 3-year study of the experiences of Black and African-Canadian students in the Ontario public school system are presented. The paper focuses on urban students in four schools and on their parents' perceptions of public schooling. Interviews were held with nearly 150 African Canadian students, including 22 dropouts, some of whom…

Describes the PRIDE Program, a partnership between the Harrisburg School District (Pennsylvania) and Bloomsburg University to provide urban, poverty-level sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students at risk of dropping out with an opportunity to spend a week on campus each summer. Program evaluation shows improved student attitudes and…