In its final report, the At-risk Working Group, which reported to the Ontario Minister of Education, described at-risk secondary students as performing significantly below the provincial standard, failing to meet curriculum expectations, and being disengaged from school (O'Connor, 2003, p. 5). In this special issue, authors examine this topic, supporting at-risk learners, from many perspectives and report on recent research conducted across the country. Contributors to this issue address questions concerning the following: (a) motivational issues that both contribute to and result from at-risk status; (b) mental health issues that may arise as students experience low achievement and disengagement and that may also cause students to experience poor achievement and disinterest in school; and (c) challenges associated with the transition from adolescence to adulthood, from school to work. This issue of "Exceptionality Education International" offers seven papers that challenges the shift of the focus away from what "these learners are not doing" and onto "what we can" do to make schools better contexts for disenfranchised youth in Canada.