The term "at-risk" has changed significantly in its usage and some of the insights offered by college students studying at-risk youth are presented in this paper. Their observations are grouped under what it means to be an at-risk youth; measurement techniques, such as the status or cohort method, which are used to identify such youth; the importance of viewing at-risk youth from an ecological perspective; the information which can be gleaned from viewing at-risk youth from a systems approach; the importance of social climate in understanding the behavior of at-risk youth; the ways in which organizational theory can help in conceptualizing student performance; and the need to determine whether or not an intervention should target the individual or the entire system. The review also explores school/human services collaboration, particularly the need for full-service schools in which all the child's needs are met. A brief outline of the role that documentary work may play in school/human services is also presented. (Contains 18 references.) (RJM)