By focusing on the settings and environments in which high-risk young people are living, this book fixes responsibility on society as a whole. High-risk settings do not just happen, but are the result of public policies and national choices. The Panel on High-Risk Youth of the National Research Council attempts to clarify forces tearing apart critical institutions in the lives of adolescents. Among the factors shaping the settings in which adolescents live, family income is perhaps the most critical. A severe decline in economic security is accompanied by an increase in single-parent households and reduced time parents can spend with children. The child welfare system and foster care are failing to provide a safety net. Neighborhoods are not the sources of support they should be, health systems and social services are not adequate, and traditional education practices contribute to high rates of failure for low-achieving students. Tracking and retaining students in grade, the historic means of addressing low achievement, are demonstrably not succeeding. School systems often compound the problems of students, and then the transition to work is not facilitated, and has not been supported, by adequate vocational education. The role of the juvenile justice system is also outlined. Suggestions are made for improving societal conditions and educational practices, and for improved social science and educational research. (SLD)