Schools have increasing pressures and responsibilities to ensure that no child is left behind in their education, which in many cases require schools to go to special efforts to meet this goal.

Students are defined as at-risk for a number of reasons, all of which are thought to be a disadvantage in regards to achieving higher levels of education standards. Some of the things which are often included are:

• This could include a learning difficulty such as ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia, or Autism spectrum disorder.
• Troubled home lives are often a cause for concern, such as in cases where children live in foster care and those who’ve suffered from abuse. There is a massive amount of information which shows how this can be tremendously damaging to their academic results.
• Poor understanding of the spoken language in schools is also a significant impediment to schools achieving success with a students education.

To address these issues will require more training and more diversity in skills and knowledge among teachers than is currently needed, but it is clear this is more necessary now than ever before.