This issue brief presents the obstacles that a number of youth face in America due to factors such as, failing schools, dangerous neighborhoods, poverty, disproportionate incarceration, poor health and nutrition, lack of employment opportunity, language difficulty and marginalization of their heritage and culture. The heavily structured school day…

Discusses various paradigms and treatment strategies in working with troubled youth. Proposes a shift from traditional approaches that stress deficits and pathology toward strength-based interventions that focus on positive development. Describes a range of specific innovations in program development that result when research on resilience becomes…

Discusses the perceived lack of readiness among sorority and fraternity members to reduce their drinking. Reports on a survey of 106 at-risk Greek students in which 25% report moving into stages that involve thinking about change or action to reduce their alcohol consumption. Proposes that research should assess the extent to which high-risk…

This is an investigation of the impact that a volunteer-based violence prevention program is having in a large urban school district located in the Midwest. The program addresses behavioral and violence prevention issues in the school setting with the hopes of reducing the factors that might put a student at-risk for school failure. The long-term…

Children considered "at-risk" for school failure and other adverse life outcomes have received increasing attention in multiple countries across the world. The research literature is replete with studies that emphasize specific detrimental factors that may make a child's life more difficult upon entering adulthood. The traditional, negative…

Explores ways basic writers theorize identities that locate them in the larger culture. States that as part of the composing process students need to locate their own notions of the writer in a dominant culture that has labeled them "at risk." Studies student texts for "theories" about writing and identity; moves to construct…

Excellence in education of gifted children is the focus of this journal theme issue. Two articles are featured: (1) "Making Connections for the At-Risk Gifted Child" by Mary Kay Finholt and Kathy Peckron, describing an exemplary support system developed for at-risk gifted students in the Rockwood School District in Missouri, which…

There is a distinct difference between preventing a problem and promoting students' emotional and intellectual development. Today's schools, with their focus on standards and accountability, frequently use a risk-based problem-prevention approach in both policy and practice to address young people's drug use, delinquency, unsafe sex, violence, and…

Examines to what degree high-risk college students possess self-authoring ways of knowing and what types of experiences are associated with development of self-authoring ways of knowing. Findings suggest high-risk college students often develop self-authoring ways of knowing prior to enrollment in college. Presents a model of self-authorship to…

Teachers who are trained in Consistency Management and who use its principles in the classroom can facilitate improvement in student academic achievement. The Consistency Management Program, consisting of school and classroom management strategies integrated with instructional methods, seems to provide the conditions for learning to occur. Five…

Community colleges have many concerns over attrition and retention rates. Studies show that 50% of freshmen drop out before completion of a degree or certificate, and nearly half of all attending students are 25 years or older yet lack basic math, reading, and writing skills. Students experiencing learning difficulties, and older students such as…

Three articles--"Youth at Risk: Extension's Hard Decisions" (Sauer), "Youth Are at Risk and So Are We..." (Hoopfer), and "Youth at Risk--Time for Action" (Junge)--address the role of cooperative extension and 4-H in youth development and why leadership arising from extension's strengths is imperative. (SK)

Suggests methods for music teachers to use in helping at-risk students gain confidence in electronic music composition class. Recommends that at-risk students be given leadership roles and worked with on an individual basis. Emphasizes maintaining a supportive, nonthreatening, and creative classroom environment where students can feel positive and…

Utilizes data from a prospective longitudinal study of at-risk children to explore multiple predictors of high school dropouts across development. Results reveal association of early home environment, quality of early caregiving, socioeconomic status, IQ, behavior problems, academic achievement, peer relations, and parent involvement with dropping…

For students who live and study at a branch campus of a mid-sized state university in southwest Pennsylvania, the 30 miles between them and their parent university represents a geographic gulf. No courier carries mail or deliveries between the main campus and the branches, and as a result, students at the branches have no access to the campus…