This theme issue presents an overview of alternative high schools that serve at-risk students. It opens with an essay on "Learning from the Margins," offering insights on the need for alternative schools, definitions of what constitutes an alternative school, how such schools succeed, and how alternative schools use new ideas to reach students. Four schools are profiled: Mat-Su, a school north of Anchorage, Alaska, which accepts students between the ages of 15 and 21 who are considered at-risk; Portland Night High School (Oregon), which helps students complete their secondary education even if they have already started a job or a family; the Open Meadow Learning Center, a private high school in Portland (Oregon) that uses relationship-based learning to teach life-skills development, preemployment training, peer-advocate groups, and other skills; and Meridian Academy near Boise, Idaho, a small alternative school that emphasizes the importance of each student and fosters a family-like atmosphere. Each profile features information on teaching strategies, the unique approach each school takes to meet the needs of its students, and other alternative school techniques. (RJM)