This paper describes one effort to establish a collaborative around the issues of at-risk youth. The Annie E. Casey Foundation's New Futures Initiative was an attempt to build formal structures of collaboration among public and private organizations to address at-risk youth. Data were gathered over 5 years from the six cities in which the program…

Although many programs and agencies exist to serve the needs of at-risk children, their fragmented organization results in a failure to meet all students' needs. Ways for agencies working together to provide integrative services to at-risk youth are presented in this paper. First, emerging principles for interagency collaboration are summarized.…

Programs that educate students about their local community's history and ecology, and enable student interaction with the community through service and experiential learning are helpful to high-risk students, promote socially responsible citizenship, instill a sense of place, and can develop local funding and resources. Gives examples of local…

The first step in the effective reform of urban education is to address the failure of the urban communities of which they are a natural and necessary outgrowth. At the heart of the problem is the inner-city community of adults that has been decimated, leaving few who are capable of responding to the need or bringing meaning and guidance to young…

Offers ideas for helping at-risk students that take into account the everyday life circumstances that inadequately prepare children for academic or social opportunities. Proposes programs that engage the community and school in collaborative efforts. Describes a model program, Communities in Schools, that serves students through business, agency,…

Responding to the high dropout rate in Providence, Rhode Island, public schools, community agencies, businesses, and teachers and administrators from the public schools joined together to form the Providence Dropout Prevention Collaborative. This document summarizes the study research, prevention plan, and implementation. The first chapter…

School-linked agency collaborations are changing the way communities deliver human services to needy children and their families. Describes and cites examples of community-based and school-based delivery systems. Lists resources on unified services for children. (MLF)

States that cooperative learning in developmental mathematics classes has greater success rates than do traditional remedial courses. Discusses learning communities--in which instructors work with other instructors to help students connect mathematics with other disciplines, and in which there is an increased level of peer interaction--as an…

This article deals with effective strategies to show that educators and school administrators can utilize court-ordered mentors, for at-risk juveniles placed in their classrooms. In the late 1980s and 1990s there was a convergence of two major events in juvenile justice. These were the reduction of government funds to address serious social…

Argues that the "social capital" provided to schools by parent and community involvement has been eroded in rural areas by school consolidation, centralization, and urban models, placing all rural students at risk. Traces this erosion in one rural West Virginia school district. Contains 19 references. (SV)

School-community collaborations are developing in many cities to respond to the escalating needs of minority and other disadvantaged students. School districts in New York City have developed collaborative programs with health care services, youth agencies, neighborhood family service centers, community organizations and parent groups. Critics…

Supports the use of the Testing T as an organizational tool to help students anticipate exam questions based on notes from lectures and prepare sample answers. Answers students' common questions about the method, such as "How many questions should I write?" and "How long should it take?" (DMM)

This paper examines the lack of familiarity that teachers and administrators have with the communities in which low-income students live and stresses the need to create linkages between the school and the outside world to help at-risk students succeed academically. There is a serious flaw in most community-oriented approaches and many contemporary…

Pittsburgh is responding to the concern about dropout prone youth by creating an initiative to prepare all youth for careers. Vocational education is at the heart of the enterprise. (JOW)

Describes Central Piedmont Community College's (North Carolina) tracking system for underprepared college students. Explains the system's components and characteristics, including pre-enrollment college visits, skills assessment, orientation, placement, formal and informal contacts between instructors and support services staff, and end-of-quarter…