f starting behind, often provided with fewer resources in poorer school systems, but still expected to catch up with their more advantaged peers. This seems like a no-win situation for both students and teachers.
There are special populations of at-risk students who suffer disproportionately. For example, the Office of Special Education reported that the dropout rate for disabled students is at least 10 times greater than for nondisabled students.
The purpose of this study is to gain understanding of the factors that cause children to be at-risk for school failure, while also exploring models, methods, and techniques that are effective in working with these children to avoid a negative outcome.
The significance of the problem is that everyone loses when children fail to succeed in the schools. The child probably suffers the most, denied the opportunity to develop a strong sense of capability and worth, and often denigrated, criticized, and shamed. Besides the personal damage done to the child who always feels a failure, there is considerable social damage. The economy suffers from the lack of skilled workers. The social fabric suffers from the crime and poverty that seems to follow school failure. For example, juvenile delinquency is highly correlated with school problems, including drop-out rates and the inability to read effectively (Hodgkinson, 1992). There are other costs to the community, including special remedial programs and welfare.
The primary assumptions on which this study are based are:
1. That all students in the community deserve to receive an effective education which enables them to be productive and successful during their school years.
2. That at-risk children who are, by definition, in danger of school failure, can be taught effectively in order to alleviate, or eliminate, that risk and help them to succeed. The task, therefore, is to identify those philosophies, models, methods, stra...