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Recruitment of minority students into schools of social work means little if students are unable to complete their studies. Retention of social work students has rarely been studied at the undergraduate or graduate levels, or as it pertains to minorities. This article reports on a study of 352 social work students, predominantly minority, admitted to a baccalaureate program between 1980 and 1987. It examines the factors contributing to retention or attrition, and possible strategies for reaching out to students "at risk." It also presents the research methodology as a model for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the literature indicates that little empirical knowledge exists about what influences learning in master of social work (MSW) research courses. The current study presents data on selected student characteristics and course performance collected from 162 students in several sections of an MSW foundation research course in a single university. The sections had the same curricular content but were taught by four instructors with quite different professional backgrounds and teaching styles. Student performance did not differ across the different instructors. Undergraduate grade point average was positively correlated with performance, and having an undergraduate major in social service was negatively correlated, but other student characteristics were unrelated to performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]