This study provides a description of the practices elementary school principals employ to reduce the likelihood that at-risk youth will actually experience school failure. The problem investigated in this study is reflected in this broad question: What is the relationship of principals' practices to the provision of service for at-risk youth? Differences in the importance and frequency of use of practices by principals were compared. Variables such as school size, percentage of students who are eligible for free lunch, percentage of students who are at-risk, student mobility, and principal's rating of how successfully their school is serving at-risk youth were also investigated. Thirty percent of the elementary principals employed in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon were randomly selected to participate in this study. The research design was descriptive. Data were collected from the critical Principal Practices Profile, a questionnaire developed by the researcher and five practitioners after an extensive review of related literature. Using a 4-point scale, principals indicated the importance and frequency of use of principals' practices for the provision of service for at-risk youth. Eighty-three percent of the selected principals completed and returned the survey. Of the responding principals' schools: 25.9% had a student population greater than 600 students, 27.8% had more than 50% of the student body eligible for free lunch, and 43.5% had more than 32% of the student body at-risk of school failure. A number of statistical treatments were performed in analyzing the data. According to the respondents, "Selection of Service Delivery Patterns" emerged as the most important practice (M = 3.65) and the most frequently used practice (M = 3.21) for serving at-risk youth. The practice "Selection of Service Delivery Patterns" was described by five explanatory items: identifying at-risk youth, requiring the modification of curricula, identifying suspension and expulsion alternatives, monitoring student performance, and implementing retention alternatives. The principals' practices and the school demographics were compared using an ANOVA. Associations reaching a significant level were found between the independent and dependent variables; however, the importance and frequency of use patterns reported by the principals could not be consistently explained simply by school demographics

The purpose of this research was to explore non-persistence by vocational students in the College of Career and Vocational Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage. A cohort of 156 students were identified and tracked from fall 1989 through spring 1992. In the first part of the study, using the University of Alaska Anchorage Institutional Research data base, demographic characteristics of the cohort, their patterns of enrollment and performance were identified. In the second part of the study, a sample of 12 non-persisters within the cohort were interviewed to learn about their motives for enrolling in postsecondary vocational education, factors contributing to their withdrawal and their perceptions regarding the quality of their educational experiences. Traditional-age (19 and under) students were the dominant age group, representing 46 percent of the cohort. Eighty percent of the students within the cohort were full-time students taking 12 or more credits. Over half (55 percent) of the students were "early-leavers" who discontinued their education at some point within the first year of the study. The graduation rate for the cohort was 3.8 percent and, at the conclusion of the study, 7.1 percent of the original cohort had maintained continuous enrollment, however, if students attending in stop-and-go patterns were included, 14.7 percent were still persisting. Implications for further study revealed by the interviews of "early-leavers" (i.e., students who did not persist beyond the first or second semesters of the study) included the following questions: 1. What retention strategies, policies and procedures can be implemented to encourage persistence of vocational students beyond the first or second semester? 2. How can the University of Alaska Anchorage assist students with their career development and decision-making? 3. How can the University of Alaska Anchorage encourage the persistence of commuter students? / Graduation date: 1995

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 279-295). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 77-84.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2009. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-34).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, School of Education, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Marshall University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains p. vii, 141 p. Includes abstract. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-109).

No description available.

This study investigated the ego development of a group of dropouts who had returned to school. The specific purpose was to explore and evaluate, systematically, the ego development of the former dropouts, and to compare their levels of ego development and their school performance to a group of students who were considered to be at risk to drop out of school. A group of students who were not considered to be at risk to drop out served as a control group. Seventeen high school students served as the subjects in this investigation. The main sources of data were: the results of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test for Ego Development that was developed by Dr. Jane Loevinger, grade and attendance reports, and interviews with the students and their teachers. The findings indicated that while the former dropouts had levels of ego development that were higher than the at risk subjects, the difference was not great enough to be statistically significant. The interviews were examined for indications of the subjects' levels of ego development in the manner in which they spoke about their experiences. The limitations of this investigation are considered, and some suggestions for further research are offered.

Thesis (M. Sociology)--Murdoch University, 2006. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Arts. Bibliography: leaves 169-183.