At-Risk Students

However one analyzes the frustration, behaviors, and attitudes of troubled youth and their often seemingly “aimless existence,” one fact is becoming increasingly clear. In a society undergoing a revolution in its folkways, norms, and values, its youth (quite possibly all of them to some degree) are at risk. The popular definition of students who are at risk is, by default, those students who are affected most by the risk factors. Those risk factors are low achievement, retention in grade, behavior problems, poor attendance, low socio-economic status, and attendance at schools with large numbers of poor students. All of these factors are closely related to dropping out of school, which, as it turns out, is what the at-risk label is identifying.

Extrapolating selected perceptions from the entire spectrum of human behavior, one notices the fragility as well as the breakdown of traditional family life and ultimately its effect on the school's curriculum. Also, given the rise in numbers of structurally dysfunctional families, a rising divorce rate, the prominence of single-parent households, and childhoods victimized by violence, sexual abuse, and incest, one can readily witness major impacts on a child's social and emotional development. The school's curricular response has often been past the fact and somewhat limited in perspective. These kinds of events all affect our youth's behaviors. They can twist, shape, or disorient psychological and social functioning and the multiple relationships each of us has from childhood through young adulthood. These behaviors are often the essence of at-riskness. These factors all contribute to the ever-changing needs of these students and their well-being.

Important research has found that by the time students are in the third grade, one can fairly reliably predict which students will ultimately drop out and those who will complete their schooling. These risk factors are usually stress related and ultimately affect the identification and predictability of dropouts with actual performance as the most reliable predictor.

With these ideas concerning being at risk in mind, it becomes much easier to picture the “classic dropout.” That individual will likely be a member [Page 59]of a racial, ethnic, or language minority group and from a family where education is not a high priority; the individual will have academic difficulties, including the possibility of being behind in grade level; the individual will be bored or frustrated with school. The process of dropping out will often include a growing number of tardies and absences, disruptive classroom behavior, and a decline in academic performance. The classic dropout simply stops coming to school one day.

One common factor brought to light is that schools and school systems that are effective in reducing the numbers of dropouts do not permit this classic scenario to reach fruition. Through early identification, the high-risk student is not permitted to become just another statistic. Absences or behavior problems are not merely observed; action is taken to understand the causes and to prevent unnecessary repetitions. Students should not be allowed to “disappear,” but when the decision to leave school is not reversible, the school should point the dropout to alternative programs and options for keeping the door to an education open. The student, in general, needs to know that some individual cares, and that the school cares.

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