This paper investigates research methods for studies of school drop-outs and push-outs, populations that are very difficult to find since they no longer have an institutional affiliation. The work argues that street corner research, which was in favor among the early urban researchers of the Chicago school, may have a renewed role in these investigations. The details of street corner research are presented with a case study of a school at a prison serving non-criminal African American youth. Though no official access was granted for research at this site, street corner research methods enabled fieldwork and revealed the lives of youth who were otherwise inaccessible and consequently invisible.