Community-based early intervention strategies can provide students with skills and attitudes that make dropping out of high school an unnecessary choice. This report analyzes the high school dropout phenomenon in terms of its magnitude, influence on minority populations, and need for local outreach programs. In California, the dropout rate has…

When discussions of at-risk students arise, Asian-American students are rarely mentioned. The stereotype of the model minority hurts at-risk Asian-American students. While their successful counterparts dominate honor rolls, at-risk Asian-American students are often overlooked and underserved. This paper discusses at-risk Asian-American students…

Urges two-year colleges to embrace the academic education of underprepared students as part of their institutional mission, provide appropriate remedial courses for students with lower academic skills, and offer workshops and training sessions for faculty to equip them with the skills needed to properly assist and teach these students. (DMM)

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…

Describes the Strategies for Teaching and Reinforcing Skills program at Bronx Community College as a solution to the mismatch between faculty expectations and the ability of poor inner-city students to perform. Discusses the writing across the curriculum program at suburban Richland College, focusing on administrative contributions to program…

The Willow Creek School Division in southern Alberta (Canada) invited leaders of various community agencies to serve on a task force to examine how changes in the local society were affecting children. The division serves approximately 2,700 rural-based students in several small rural communities. The task force was composed of the leaders of a…

After providing evidence of the decline of student academic ability and identifying some of the factors influencing this decline, this paper examines the role of community colleges in providing compensatory education for the growing population of students who are underprepared for college-level work. This examination begins by tracing the…

An exploratory study was conducted at Mercer County Community College to identify the skills needed and external barriers suffered by most remedial students enrolled at the college, and to develop a preliminary ranking of these skills and barriers according to their perceived importance by faculty. A survey instrument identifying 26 learning…

Compiled from a 1986 survey of Long Beach City College (LBCC) faculty, this guidebook provides a wide range of information on the underprepared student. Introductory material reviews basic assumptions and common points of agreement concerning underprepared students and stresses the need for sharing approaches to assisting the large numbers of…

Evaluation of a 3-year transition education program at the Pingelly School in Western Australia used data from 29 students and staff interviews, direct observation, and document analysis to compare 4 projects established to improve the employability of students (in particular, Aboriginal students and girls who were at highest risk of being early…

This two-part report considers the implications of Florida's Post-Secondary Reorganization Bill for community colleges. Part I first presents the relevant sections of the Bill, which mandate that college students' computation and communication skills be tested at entry; that colleges provide remediation and counseling appropriate to students'…

The findings of an ethnographic study of schooling and work in a small rural community in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York are reported. More than half the school children in the community live in poverty. Research explores the relationships between patterns of adult work and the schooling of children, and between schooled and…

Presents an overview of the field of school social work, discusses some problems commonly encountered by teachers, administrators, and social workers attempting to work together on behalf of students, and presents some guidelines for educators to facilitate the use of school social work. (Author)

During spring 1991, a study was conducted at San Diego City College (SDCC) in California to explore the various factors which motivate students to drop out, propose remediation strategies based on the research findings, and suggest further studies to identify and analyze problem areas more explicitly. To examine students' reasons for dropping out,…

The efforts of Vassar College and Cornell University in their early years (1865-1890) to manage problems presented by underprepared students are described. Based on archival materials, registers, institutional publications, and histories, attention is directed to the perceptions of administrators, faculty, students, and alumni concerning academic…