At-risk students share the potential for failure to achieve their success in school due to factors with socioeconomic status, family variables, academic deficiencies, or physical/neurological impairment ( ). It is a common belief that the majority of at-risk students will not complete school through grade 12. It is estimated that 25% of students in this country will dropout before High School graduation ( ). Some 30% of urban school students will dropout by the time they enter the eighth grade ( ). These statistics are probably conservative because they do not reflect the number of students who have already encountered circumstances placing them at-risk and have not yet been identified. Rossi and Stringfield (1995) estimated that by the year 2020 the majority of students will be living in circumstances placing them at-risk. The characteristics of at-risk students will be identified along with the prevalence of at-risk children in our society. The educational role in working with at-risk children will be reviewed and specific educational techniques/programs will be discussed.A variety of conditions are used to identify at-risk students. Ethnicity, demographics, and socioeconomic status are all widely accepted factors in identifying these students. However, Baruth and Manning (1996) asserted that "at-risk cannot be stereotyped by color, age, economic level or family situation" (p. 240). There are a variety of other problems that can place a child at-risk. Tice (1995) has identified eleven other factors that can be associated with school failure. These factors include: "attempted suicide, substance abuse, low self-esteem, pregnancy, expulsion or suspension, poor attitude toward education by parents, retention, truancy, low grades, scoring below the 20th percentile on standardized tests, and having an IQ below 90" (Tice, 1995, p. 35). According to Hootstein (1996) at-risk students can be characterized by inattentivenes...
