The Social Structural, Family, School, and Personal Characteristics of At-Risk Students: Policy Recommendations for School Personnel

Abstract

The following review summarizes the research concerning the characteristics of at-risk students. Surprisingly, at-risk students have not been extensively studied. However, as the discussion of social structure will document, the available research clearly demonstrates that the single most consistent factor characterizing at-risk students is social class. Social class is a powerful determinant of school success, and, as a consequence, at-risk students are disproportionately drawn from families with low socioeconomic status. Fortunately, researchers, especially sociologists, have devoted considerable energy to studying the impact of social class on educational success. While these researchers have not singled out at-risk students for special study, their findings on why students from lower-socioeconomicstatus families do less well in school than children from middle-class families can be extrapolated to the at-risk population. The relatively few studies focusing exclusively on at-risk students support this link. They suggest that the factors underlying the poorer school performance of students from lower-socioeconomic-status families also account for much of the variance between students who are at-risk and those who are not. Accordingly, in this report we will discuss, not only studies of students identified as being at-risk, but also studies investigating the impact of social class on school success.