Background: This study describes the experience of implementing a screening, monitoring, and referral to treatment (SMARTT) initiative at an urban middle school school-based health center. Methods: Retrospective data were collected for adolescents screened with the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17-Y. At-risk adolescents having unmet health needs…

Little is known about best practices to support newcomer students with a history of emotional, behavioral, or learning challenges in their pursuit of school success and engagement. The Enhanced Critical Incident Technique was employed to explore the helping, hindering, and desired practices among nine teachers who have successfully supported…

In this reflective essay, Alan McCullough Jr., Felton Morrell Jr., Bernard Thomas III, Vincente Waugh, and Nicholas Shubert with their teacher, Amy Donofrio, share the youth self-authorship methods that empowered them to transform their labels from "at-risk youth" to "at-hope youth leaders" in Jacksonville, Florida. After…

Academic mentoring programs promote high school completion for at-risk youth. The purpose of this study was to hear the voice of youth in order to inform program services and develop best practices for meeting their academic needs. Using a grounded theory approach, we conducted 14 focus groups to examine high school students' perceptions and…

This qualitative case study focused on examining the perceptions of alternative schoolteachers' who use restorative practice circles regarding student relationships, classroom climate, and student connectedness. The problem that was addressed in this study is that some teachers find it difficult to build relationships with at-risk students which…

Many factors cause student disengagement from school that subsequently result in high dropout rates. Alternative education (AE) programs provide a different pathway for at-risk youths who do not meet the goals, standards, and requirements of traditional educational settings. However, educational agencies have vastly different interpretations…

A Midwestern state allocated grant funding to encourage more accessible alternative programming at the middle level. Seventeen schools were approved for this grant and used the funds to supplement the operation of a new or existing program. This study provides policymakers and educators with an overview of the various types of alternative middle…

The BHB Theory (Haggis, 2011) is based on an empirical case study that examined teachers' perceptions of what they do in their educational settings to create a positive learning environment for troubled youth in their classrooms. Research--including this study--indicates a need for transformational change in how teachers interrelate with students…

The high school dropout problem has been the focus of educational leaders and researchers for several decades. Despite efforts, students continue to drop out of high school. In an effort to prevent at-risk youth from dropping out of school, educators have paired mentors with youth in hopes of increasing graduation rates. These efforts have…

Recent workforce trends in healthcare point to a growing need to prepare social workers capable of providing integrated behavioral health care in multidisciplinary settings serving at-risk youth. This article reports on a project that involved the development and implementation of a graduate-level social work specialization focused on integrated…

Background: No study to date has examined the effectiveness of integrating clinical decision support tools, like electronic health record (EHR) alerts, into the clinical care of youth at-risk for suicide. Objective: This study aimed to examine the feasibility and acceptability of using an EHR alert to increase clinicians' use of safety planning…

A governmental research inquiry was conducted into the policy to raise the school leaving age in Western Australia. The study aimed to problematise the policy so as to identify and examine the rationale and intervening practices with young people who were deemed to be at-risk of not meeting the new school leaving age requirements. Drawing on…

At-risk students are engaged in dangerous behaviors that lead them to become involved in the juvenile justice system and cause the feeling of low self-worth. This eventually causes at-risk youths to drop out of school and engage in detrimental behaviors that meddle in their academic success. The alternative education program provides these at-risk…

This article describes ROCKETS, an after-school program for at-risk youth, and how the university students became involved in this service-learning project. The article discusses the steps that were taken to start the program, what is being done to continue the program, and the challenges that faculty have faced. This program is an authentic…

At-risk urban youth benefit from mentored activities. The Champion Academy (CA) is a youth mentoring program for high risk urban youth. We used a community based participatory research (CBPR) approach to explore: 1) youth perspectives on health and wellness, EH and EJ; and 2) community perspectives on the intersection of structural racism, health…