The New Horizons Program of the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools provides supportive services such as counseling, attendance monitoring, career-related instruction, work experience, and coordination with community agencies to dropout-prone students and their families to improve academic achievement and increase the graduation rate. Work…

This paper uses case studies to introduce a method by which educators in a graduate course transformed the ways in which they saw the students with whom they worked as they situated themselves within the context of "at-riskness." Four white women, all of whom worked with at-risk youth, took a graduate course on the educational challenges of youth…

The primary job of parents is to ensure safe passage for their children from infancy through adolescence to adulthood. Research has indicated many things schools can do to turn the privilege of safe passage into a right. Three research-based programs that work to achieve safe passage are described. The first is Caring Connection, a "one-stop-shop"…

The Student Assistance to Further Education (SAFE) Alternative School was designed to provide academic and support services to eligible Houston Independent School District (HISD) (Texas) elementary school students at risk of expulsion. Students are referred to the school by school staff at participating schools or their parents. The program, which…

The Educational Learning and Enrichment Center (ELEC) entered into a contract with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) (Texas) to provide a community-based alternative education program for HISD eligible students who had dropped out of school and were considered to be at risk of not completing their basic education. The 1996-97…

Children have ample opportunities to learn about science outside of school through visits to science museums, participation in extra-curricular science programs, and by pursuing experiments at home, yet few studies have examined what it means to do science in such places and how such ways of knowing might become integrated with, or differentiated…

This book describes the design, growth, and replication of New York City's Middle College High School (MCHS). Chapter 1 relates the history of moves to integrate high school and college, the rationale for this reform, and reasons why prior to the 1970s, the movement was confined to very few two-year and independent colleges. Chapter 2 shows how…

Urban at-risk elementary school students (n=72) who experienced both parent involvement (PI) and reciprocal peer tutoring interventions or the PI intervention alone reported higher self-concept and greater gains in mathematics achievement than students in practice control conditions. (SLD)

Describes Outward Bound's adventure education and leadership training programs. Describes Outward Bound's history, goals, and participants' reactions, emphasizing benefits for urban Hispanic youth. Describes efforts to recruit more urban minority students, instructors, and at-risk youth. Mentions other Outward Bound programs meeting special needs.…

Analyzed the interrelation between achievement and personal-motivational variables in students at risk of school failure and students not at risk. Results from 606 third graders show that students with and without academic problems are different with respect to certain motivational-affective variables. Prediction of academic success from affective…

Summer of Service, a national summer service learning program for early adolescents is described. The three tenets of this program--intentional design, youth empowerment, and the opportunity to be of use--combine to make a powerful learning experience. Student input is involved at every stage of the program, and learning is incorporated through a…

The Urban Youth Public Education campaign was a Center for Substance Abuse Prevention initiative that embodied the concept of targeted programming in terms of cultural sensitivity and community participation. The Campaign, which began in 1990, targeted inner-city African American children, youth, and families in 14 initial sites. Other sites were…

Youth for Education and Success (YES) has contracted with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) (Texas) to provide a community-based alternative school for HISD students who have dropped out of school and are considered at risk. An evaluation of the program indicated that 9 of 118 enrolled students attained General Educational Development…

This book is written about youth gangs with the aim of educating teachers and administrators, parents, and others who work with youth. The main emphasis is on gang identifiers and positive behavior management strategies and crisis intervention techniques that can be used in schools and the home. Section 1, "Youth Gangs Past and Present," provides…

This report is an overview of recent research on the effects of class size on the academic performance and behavior of students at risk. In several ways it is not a conventional literature review. It emphasizes one recent large-scale investigation, Tennessee's Project STAR (Student-Teacher-Achievement-Ratio), begun in 1985. It is more evaluative…