The College of New Caledonia (1988) conducted a study of its English 010 classes from January 1986 to April 1988. These classes cover the beginning grades up to the Grade 6 level. They discovered that of those who entered at the Grade 1 or 2 level, 66 percent never completed for the following reasons: emotional or mental instability; alcoholism; mentally incapable; frustration when starting with so few skills; and moving away.

The length of program was a factor in dropout in this study. For those who entered at the lowest level, 17 percent completed the class in 8 to 10 months and another 17 percent moved into a job training class after 6 months in the English 010 class. Of the students entering at the Grade 3 level, 43 percent completed in six months, but when attendance time was increased by 2 to 4 months, the completion rate for students at that level rose to 66 percent. For those entering at a Grade 4 or 5 level, the completion rate was 93 percent - 50 percent completed in two months or less, and 35 percent completed in six to eight months, the remainder completed in three or four months.