The push for higher academic standards has resulted in an increase in the numbers of high school students needing extra help. The need for extra help is most pervasive in high-poverty areas and most high school students need extra help not in traditional basic elementary skills but in reading, mathematics, and advanced reasoning skills. Most students requiring extra help in reading need support and direction to make the transition from a being beginning readers to becoming expert readers. In mathematics, most help is needed in operating with rational numbers and integers, the transition from arithmetic to mathematics, and mathematical reasoning. The issue of extra help for high school students must be reconceptualized. Although research has identified a core of elements that are critical to reading instruction for adolescents lacking strong comprehension strategies, mathematics has no long-standing body of research on the challenges and needs of students entering high school. The following are among actions for policymakers: (1) find time to address students' substantial extra help needs during the school day; (2) when attempting to address students' need for extra help, avoid triggering the reemergence of dead-end tracks and remediation; and (3) recognize and confront the importance of teacher quality. (Contains 74 references.) (MN)