¶ … at-Risk Students According to the available literature, if at-risk students don't receive the academic support they need while in middle school, the chances are very good that they will drop out by the time they are in high school. While the high school dropout rate has gone down in recent years, it is still far too high, which indicates that at-risk students (in middle school and high school) are not receiving the special academic help they may need to finish their basic education.

This paper reviews a program that was put into place in the Arkansas Delta, involving 53 at-risk middle school students. The intervention with these students was designed to get them interested in business and in entrepreneurship, according to the authors. The success of this intervention is seen as a potentially positive tool for use in other schools, because when young people from low-income families, who are considered at-risk academically, get excited about becoming involved in a profitable, interesting business, their attention to class work and learning is affected in a positive way.

The Literature and the Research: Meanwhile, a national report that was sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called "The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts," asserts that every year, "almost one-third of all high school students -- and nearly half of all blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans -- fail to graduate from public high school with their class" (Bridgeland, et al., 2006, p. i). What are the solutions for at-risk students whose future hangs in the balance when school is not interesting for them or...

41), when at-risk students are given an opportunity to learn about running a small profitable business, it can be "both exciting and rewarding." The project that is discussed in this paper was designed and orchestrated by the SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) at Arkansas State University's College of Business; it was funded by a grant from Sam's Club. Eighty-three percent of the 53 at-risk students that were part of the research qualified for the "free lunch program" and those same students were considered at-risk for dropping out of school, Bevill explains (p. 35). It's not just the fact that there is poverty in one particular area of the Arkansas Delta. According to the authors "less than 17% of Arkansans have a Bachelor's degree or higher" -- and so the state's middle school and high schools have a huge challenge in getting more students to graduate and become successful in careers (Bevill, p. 36).
Meanwhile the SIFE team worked with teachers from eight schools in the delta in the fall semester, 2007. First, the business-trained teachers in the eight schools introduced the participants to "the concept of economics" and to various parts of a business plan. The SIFE team gave teachers "basic curriculum information" to put to use while briefing their students, Bevill continues.…