A 20-item questionnaire covering student attitudes, school and nonschool activities, problem behaviors, and family life was administered to 200 students in 10 rural Tennessee high schools. Subjects were randomly selected from a group that had low achievement scores, excessive absences, and failures in two or more academic subjects. Over half of respondents thought that education was not important, and nearly three-fourths did not enjoy school work. However, 70 percent planned to graduate from high school. About two-thirds were employed. Over 60 percent of respondents had divorced parents, and 42 percent reported moving two or more times while in high school. About 70 percent reported poor communication with parents or other family members. A large majority had never been suspended, did not consider themselves "problem students," and had never had problems with the law. Only 27 percent were involved in extracurricular activities. The majority of respondents did not "feel good about themselves." Recommendations include efforts to improve the quality of communication between at-risk students and their families, attitudes about the value of education, student self-esteem, and involvement of at-risk students in extracurricular activities and all facets of the school program. (SV)