Four case studies of volunteer training focused on achievement of certification or other qualifications identified complex reasons why volunteers drop out or do not complete assessments: a vocation versus vocationalism view of volunteering, intrinsic versus extrinsic incentives, motivation for learning, and role conflict. (Contains 34 references.)…

A serious difficulty in determining the importance of credit constraints in education arises because standard data sources do not provide a direct way of identifying which students are credit constrained. This has forced researchers to adopt a variety of indirect approaches. This paper differentiates itself from previous work by taking a direct…

The District conducts a "cross-sectional" analysis of student dropouts annually; it examines dropout rates among students enrolled in various grades at one point in time. A "longitudinal" analysis, also conducted annually, tracks a group of students in the same grade or cohort over a period of several years. Each method…

This paper reviews some of the ways in which student success can be predicted in conventional and distance education. Predicting such success is particularly important for new students where the pre-course start information available is sometimes slight and withdrawal often occurs very early in a course. It suggests that, in such cases,…

This study investigates the relationships between students' confidence in their generic skills on entry to university, their learning styles and their academic performance in first year. Research based on a large cohort of Scottish undergraduates found that students generally entered university feeling very confident that they already possessed…

The NEAIR (North East Association for Institutional Research) 2011 Conference Proceedings is a compilation of papers presented at the Boston, Massachusetts conference. Papers in this document include: (1) Are Students Dropping Out or Dragging Out the College Experience? The Roles of Socioeconomic Status and Academic Background (Leslie S. Stratton…

This report investigated whether withdrawees and continuers differed significantly (1) in occupational and educational status of parents, stated goals, and over-all GPA, or (2) on the basis of personal college experiences. A 2-part questionnaire, sent to 150 randomly selected entering freshmen, produced a return of 60%: 46 dropouts and 44…

We examined the Big Five (De Raad, 2000) personality traits of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness, plus the narrow personality traits of Aggression, Career-Decidedness, Optimism, Self-Directed Learning, Sense of Identity, Tough-Mindedness, and Work Drive in relation to intention to withdraw from…

Research was designed to identify commonalities of personal, enrollment, withdrawal, and evaluative factors as they relate to student withdrawal from community college. The study sought to identify interrelationships between identified reasons for student withdrawal and the variables of gender, race, classification status, degree sought, plans for…

Reviews the literature on course attrition relevant to: factors contributing to course attrition, non-punitive grading, open entry/open exit courses, lack of non-credit options, reasons for withdrawal, curriculum areas with low course completion rates, programs and proposals for reducing attrition, evaluating non-credit students, and student…

Defines a rhetorical genre as a recurrent distinctive relationship among the elements of occasion, audience and speaker-role and examines five incidents which produced discourse constituting a rhetorical genre. (MH)

British research on adult student retention/noncompletion reached the following conclusions: clear, reliable data are lacking; funding models ignore nontraditional students; and reasons for withdrawal are complex and interrelated. Keys to better retention are good student-staff relations and personal and academic support for learners. (SK)

The Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) provides a wealth of information from multiple sources about the factors and circumstances related to the performance and social development of American high school sophomores as they enter and leave various levels of the education system. This First Look report draws upon ELS:2002 second…