RISK AND RESILIENCE IN STUDENT TRANSITIONS TO HIGH-SCHOOL

This article explores tile concepts of risk and resilience applied to children and youth. I suggest advantages in considering a definition o f risk grounded in actual school performance and behavior, as opposed to common conceptions of risk tied to various group-level probabilitie s of failure. The study focuses on students doing poorly or lacking co nfidence in finishing school as of the eighth grade who turn themselve s around by the tenth grade. Using data from the National Education Lo ngitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) survey, analyses examine the nature of performance-based risks and the conditions under which students im prove their performance levels and outlooks bf grade 10. Tile estimate d models of resilience shown influences resembling those found in stud ies of individual resilience in other domains. The importance of famil y supports, school responsiveness to students, and student involvement in school and community activities stand out as predictors of recover y from low performance. A few patterns within subgroups emerge: for in stance, the noninfluence of socioeconomic status (SES) on resilience w ithin the Hispanic and African American cohorts, and the finding that Hispanic youth are less resilient in schools where there are perceived problems with youth gangs.