High-Risk Children in Schools : Constructing Sustaining Relationships

High Risk Children in Schools offers a way for psychologists and educators to see and talk about the growing population of "at-risk" children--those likely to fail at formal schooling--while helping to redefine the relationship between schools and families.

Using systems theory and developmental psychology, the authors present a new framework for the study and education of children who are at-risk. This framework--the Contextual Systems Model--creates a dialogue between the child and schooling through which meaning, goals, and experiences are shared and accepted.

Robert C. Pianta is Associate Professor of Clinical and School Psychology in the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia. Daniel J. Walsh is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.