AT-RISK KIDS, OFTEN WITHOUT LOVING RELATIONSHIPS AT HOME, 
MUST FIND SUPPORT AT SCHOOL IN ORDER TO SUCCEED, BOOK NOTES

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 9 -- Supportive, stable
relationships are more important to young children's academic
success than schools and schedules, say the authors of a newly
published book, "High Risk Children in Schools."
	Helping young children who are most likely to fail in school
-- those considered "at-risk" because of economic, environmental,
social and/or psychological reasons -- does not require a massive
restructuring of schools, say authors Robert C. Pianta and Daniel J.
Walsh.  
	Because young children gain confidence, develop self-esteem
and feel free to explore when they are reared in supportive
relationships, schools need to promote on-going relationships that
transcend grade levels to provide the same sense of security, notes
Pianta, director of a University of Virginia study that is part of a
national research effort to determine factors contributing to
children's success in kindergarten.
	To help the very young succeed in school, educators must be
able to discern how the school experience is affecting the child.
This type of knowledge does not come from tests but from continuous
observations and conversations about the child -- what the authors
describe as "feedback loops" between teacher and child, parent and
teacher and teacher and principal.  
	How a teacher responds to an at-risk child has a major
effect on how secure the youth feels in school and the classroom.
"Early schooling is mostly about face-to-face interaction between
children and adults.  These interactions are the process of
adjustment.  Test scores and other assessment measures are only
blurry snapshots of this adjustment process," said Pianta, an
associate professor of clinical and school psychology in U.Va.'s
Curry School of Education. Walsh is an associate professor of early
childhood education at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
	Pianta and Walsh point out that between the ages of 5 and 8,
most children have to form relationships with at least four adult
teachers.  However, the same aged at-risk children often have to
form relationships with twice as many adults since aides, Chapter-1
teachers, speech therapists and special education attendants are
involved.  The multitude of relationships and the frequent changes
in classroom routine can be particularly hard on at-risk children,
the authors believe.  (The book is published by Routledge of New
York.)
	"In one half-day pre-kindergarten class, we observed no
fewer than 15 changes each day.  How can a child feel secure in an
environment that changes so frequently?  And how can a teacher
really know the whole child under such circumstances?" Pianta asked.
	Reducing the number of changes, thereby promoting on-going
teacher-child relationships, gives at-risk students a sense of
security that allows them to take academic and social risks, contend
Walsh and Pianta, who is also directing a U.Va. study that is part
of national research project examining the effects of child care.
That project is following approximately 1,300 children from birth to
age 7.  
	"Supportive relationships fuel developmental change. Schools
need to find less formal ways for teachers across grades and subject
areas to engage in conversations about children, thus promoting
relationships that benefit youth.  This feeling of a stable
relationship is critical to a child whose home offers little
emotional support," Pianta said.  
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July 8, 1996
	FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact Robert Pianta at (804)
243-5483 or (804) 982-4760.  Daniel Walsh is at (217) 244-1218.
Television reporters should contact our TV News Office at (804)
924-7550.