The Hispanic Policy Development Project (HPDP) and the National Coalition for Advocates for Students (NCAS) launched separate inquiries into how American public education could be improved without excluding poor, minority, female, and handicapped youngsters. HPDP reported on the performance of Hispanic students in inner-city high schools in "Make Something Happen: Hispanics and Urban School Reform," while NCAS investigated the circumstances of all disadvantaged public school students in its report, "Barriers to Excellence: Our Children at Risk." Both reports claim that the dropout rates and low achievement levels of a staggering number of minority and poor children not only subvert the nation's deepest values of fairness, they threaten its economic social fabric. One general conclusion is drawn by both reports: there are two systems of public education in the United States, one rich with resources and talent that serves middle-class and affluent Whites, the other, a "pauper's system" that seems headed for a decline. Many analysts quoted in the reports believe that school reform, to benefit poor and minority children, must redefine the scale and scope of the problem, including a redefinition of what constitutes a high-risk student. Above all, they say, students must be given the feeling that adults care about them, and are interested in their progress. In general, the reports emphasize, stronger links must be constructed between teachers, parents, communities, and businesses, and all must actively cooperate, for without reform, schools will continue to perpetuate the inequalities in the larger society. (KH)