ABSTRACT
As part of a research project which was conducted to explore the present state of career-oriented high schools, the author has had the opportunity to observe the operation of some of these schools. In this chapter the author uses data from two of the schools in the larger study to explore several factors in the successful preparation of at-risk African-American students. The focus is on the students as actors in the scenario of schooling because it is recognized that students are not passive participants in what institutions do. The two schools described here are in the Chicago Public School System. At the time of the study the dropout rate in the Chicago Public Schools was one of the highest in the nation. A program began in 1987–1988 with the University of Illinois at Chicago which brings college students into the school before their student teaching experience.
