The first chapter of the literature review describes the Career Intern Program (CIP), a cooperative career education venture of the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America and two Philadelphia high schools, which is composed of three steps: career awareness (general orientation, development, motivation); career exploration (academic…

The Northern Arizona Hospitality Education Program is an exemplary three-year project designed to help students, mainly Indian, obtain job skills and attitudes necessary for successful employment in the hospitality industry. Nine high schools from Apache, Coconino, and Navajo Counties participated in the project. Objectives included providing an…

The Diversified Satellite Occupations Program Career Development sought to prevent dropout through these strategies: registration at a school situation away from the normal school setting, creation of a close teacher-student relationship, and raise achievement levels and lower anxiety levels. Program emphases at elementary, junior and senior high…

This demonstration project in New York City undertook to help potential dropouts remain in school through the introduction of a program which combined after-school work experience with group and individual counseling. Concomitantly, it sought to develop an effective intervention methodology for replication in other communities. The principal…

A Montana study of 46 Native American high school dropouts found salient factors were perceived irrelevance/cultural insensitivity of curricula, perceived teacher indifference/failure to help with students' work, desire to be with other dropouts, problems at home, and the requirement that students attend school for the entire senior year. (MH)

The number of high school age students who do not complete high school is receiving increased attention as a serious challenge facing the educational system. This is happening for several reasons. New research estimates that about 30 percent of high school students fail to earn a diploma in the standard number of years, a higher figure than state…

As part of a series exploring effective strategies for school improvement and dropout prevention, this monograph focuses on early childhood education and reading/writing programs, and compiles strategies to help families engage in meaningful literacy activities. The monograph describes and defines family literacy, provides a research basis for…

A study used focus groups and interviews to examine dropout causes among Hispanic middle and high school students in Hillsborough County, Florida. Major contributors to Latino student success included personal motivation to succeed, supportive parents, and being interested and involved in school activities. Factors contributing to dropout included…

A comparative study of early school leaving in India, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States found that in spite of huge cultural and economic differences between these countries, there were common underlying causes of the school dropout problem. Economic need, sociocultural divisions, curricula that were unrelated to future work and…

This brief report describes efforts of the Oklahoma State Regents to accelerate positive academic change in the state's higher education system with a combination of strengthened admission, retention, and assessment standards. The first section presents the state's problem of lagging performance during the late 1980s, as indicated by data showing…

A study was conducted to determine whether the adult basic education environment improved the educational outlook of at-risk students. The research was conducted using a 25-question survey with 100 students enrolled in the Nicolet College Alternative High School program for at-risk students in northern Wisconsin, from January through December…

As a response to the problems of nontraditional student attrition at two-year and four-year urban colleges, this paper introduces the constructs of career decision-making self-efficacy, perceived stress, and financial difficulty into a model built on the synthesis of Cabrera (1993). A questionnaire was administered to adult nontraditional (age 24…

This paper reviews research on best practices for preventing students with mild disabilities from dropping out of high school. Findings from the literature review indicate there is a consensus among the researchers that warning signs for school dropout among students with mild disabilities include: poor attendance, academic difficulties,…

This report summarizes results of AISD's State Compensatory Education programs for at-risk students in 2001-2002.

Supportive school settings linking Native culture, history, and language with academic, social, and community programs, and educational experiences that integrate Native life into meaningful academic, social, and personal living skills programs should give Native students greater understanding of their own identity and more success in school and…