The Children-at-Risk program (CAR), a drug and delinquency prevention program, targets high-risk adolescents aged 11 to 13 who live in distressed neighborhoods. The program features integrated delivery of comprehensive services that are tailored to the community and involve close collaboration with other services providers. The Urban Institute is…

To support community efforts to reach out to African American youth confronted with high-risk environments in the cities, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention has launched the Urban Youth Public Education Campaign. This campaign targets 9- to 13-year-old African American youth in high-risk inner-city environments. The campaign is designed to…

Asian American and Pacific Islander (A&PI) populations are seriously affected by substance abuse related problems. Culturally appropriate prevention resources for A&PI audiences on substance abuse issues remain a critical need. This resource guide provides information and referrals to help prevention specialists, educators, and community leaders…

This report summarizes the findings of some recent pivotal studies of class size, especially as they relate to students at risk. Of particular note is a large-scale study of class size, which was designed to test the conclusions of G. Glass and M. Smith (1978) and G. Robinson (1990) about the advantages of small class size. This study, Project…

The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in 1992 approximately 4.5% of all high school students dropped out of grades 10 through 12, and 11% of all persons in the age group 16 through 24 had not completed high school and were not currently enrolled. The Communities in Schools (CIS) network is a web of local, state, and national…

In the 1992 amendments to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, Congress established incentive grants for local delinquency prevention programs, know as the Community Prevention Grants Program. This report is the third annual report on this program, which provides the framework, tools, and funding for communities to help divert…

Two studies of drug abuse prevention programs that rely at least in part on the "school-as-community" concept were conducted in urban high schools with high-risk students. Both studies support the feasibility of formalized groups of high-risk youths to promote drug-free events. (SLD)

This longitudinal school-based study examined school connection and family support as protective factors for adolescent mental health in the context of exposure to violence. After controlling for seventh grade functioning, recent exposure to violence uniquely predicted worsening of functioning from seventh to eighth grade across multiple self- and…

The stories of five young black men growing up in the Roxbury area of Boston (Massachusetts) in the late 1960s and early 1970s illustrate the difficulties and coping required to reach adulthood in the city. The young men were part of the Pathways to Identity project of Harvard University, a longitudinal study that has, since 1966, interviewed 61…

The SUCCESS Program of the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools provides employment, health, mental health, and social services in a comprehensive "one-stop shopping" manner at the most accessible location for children and youth, the public school that they attend. During the 1995-96 school year, the strategies of the SUCCESS program were…

This report describes a framework for exploring the processes of resilience in students at Stanton Elementary School, an urban public school in Washington, D.C. Investigators for the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk invited Stanton to participate in a study of exposure to stress, including violence, and its…

The Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program was developed to provide an education for students who were expelled from school or who were adjudicated to attend an alternative school. The program was operated by the Harris County Juvenile Board, but the Houston Independent School District contracted with the county to place expelled students…

This qualitative work analyzes selected major literature on self-esteem from the standpoint of urban youth education. It defines and describes elements of self-esteem, and links self-esteem to self-worth, learners' social environmental cues, teacher attitudes, and other variables. At-risk youth carry the additional burden of internalizing…

Describes the Family Focus for School Success Project, a model program that provides education and support to language minority families in poverty and their children through comprehensive early intervention for children at risk of academic failure because of their home environments. An evaluation of the first year's efforts with 69 families…

Self-report surveys of urban middle and high school students assessed changes in their motivation as they entered and exited an alternative learning program that emphasized academic skills, self-esteem, and social skills. Students who completed the program experienced increases in extrinsic motivation, self-esteem, and persistence toward learning…