This guide is designed to share the experiences of 25 British further education colleges and adult education services that have developed demonstrably successful strategies to improve student retention. An introduction discusses the report's background, content, and format. The format mixes thematic presentation with mini-case studies and substantial, illustrative documentation. The broad thematic structure of the report (chapters 2-13) is organized around these issues: successful outcomes of retention strategies; management of the process, that is, how the colleges got started and who took the lead; how pre-enrollment issues were managed; initial student assessment that worked best in matching students to courses; identification of students at risk of dropping out; induction and student motivation as methods to help students settle in; the role of tutoring; curriculum strategies for retention, including curriculum audit, course development, curriculum structure and timetabling, learning support, and learning to learn; how teachers can improve and develop their courses; other effective support provided to students, including direct costs of study, financial advice, travel costs, child care costs, and counseling services; student tracking and followup, including manual, manual and computerized, and computerized systems; and resource allocation and target setting. Chapter 14 summarizes important points by chapter. Appendixes contain 60 references and index. (YLB)