The conference summarized here brought together participants from 12 public school districts and 34 observers from government agencies, foundations and community organizations. The attendees addressed the concern that the reform agenda of American public schooling is insufficiently sensitive to needy children who have dropped out of school or who…

The Three-Tier Vocational Education Program serves economically disadvantaged and handicapped high school students in Duplin County, North Carolina. It is designed to assist these students in developing job-seeking, job-getting, and job-keeping skills in a partnership with high schools, James Sprunt Technical College, and the employing community.…

In an effort to reduce the class attrition rate of 40% at Jefferson Community College (JCC), and to investigate the entire process of recruitment, retention, and attrition (RRA), a series of four faculty workshops were held. The plan was to look at the RRA process from the student's point of view in terms of four phases: (1) the pre-enrollment…

In response to declines in enrollment and average daily attendance since 1975, Ohlone College conducted a study of student attrition which involved: (1) a telephone survey of the 2,593 students who enrolled in Fall 1979 and dropped out or withdrew from classes before the end of the quarter; (2) a mailed survey of the 15 members of the California…

The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects were set up to aid disadvantaged youths, ages 16 to 19, guaranteeing them a part-time job during the school year and a full-time job during summer months on the condition that they remain in, or return to, a secondary school or enroll in an equivalency education program. It was started in January,…

The document is comprised of the appendixes to Volume 3 ("Descriptive Study of the Talent Search Program") of a four-volume Research Triangle Institute final report titled, "A Study of the National Upward Bound and Talent Search Programs." The 14 appendixes comprising the document are: a list of Talent Search advisory council…

Traditionally, postsecondary education is based on a selective model in which students are uniformly expected to benefit from the methods of instructors and their concepts of appropriate curriculum and educational goals. Under this system, 30 to 70 percent of all community college students become part of an attrition statistic. In order to adapt…

The Aides to Career Education (ACE) Program employs instructional aides to help disadvantaged vocational education students in Los Angeles develop positive attitudes toward education and employment, more cooperative behavior, pride in their course work, efficiency in completing assigned tasks, and improved attendance. In 1975-76 (the fourth year)…

"Focus on Policy" is NCSALL's (National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy's) newest publication. Its purpose is to synthesize research findings and highlight policy implications of these findings. "Focus on Policy" forgoes the usual academic conventions to provide its readers with an easy-to-understand summary…

Over one-third of high school students in Canada are dropping out of school. However, the advent of multimedia computer technology has increased the potential of career interventions, particularly for at-risk youth. This digest describes such a program entitled Knowledge for Youth About Careers (KYAC). KYAC is based on attribution change theory…

The purpose of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. After presenting a statement of…

Little attention has been given to institutional violence exercised by schools as a major stressor leading to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and high dropout rates among Latino students. Institutional violence is defined as the norms, values, and structures of institutions that exclude and discriminate against individuals of disadvantaged…

This case study explored culturally relevant practices in an urban American Indian secondary alternative school and three students' responses to them. The most vital factor contributing to student success was culturally responsive teachers. Other factors were small school size, flexible school formats, and governance structures. Implications for…

Career academies are characterized by these three basic features: a school-within-a-school organizational structure, curricula that combine academic and career or technical courses based on a career theme, and partnerships with local employers. In a 10-year longitudinal study of the academy model, begun in 1993 in 9 schools around the country,…

The purposes of this study were to evaluate a pilot, dropout prevention program designed to provide academic tutoring and supplemental enrichment to 9th graders and to examine additional data on adolescents' motivators and role models related to high school dropout and completion. The program targeted 9th graders because many adolescents decide to…