Opportunity Youth: Disenfranchised Young People

who exhibit other problem behaviors such as substance abuse, depression, and suicidal
ideation. Students who are eligible to participate in Reconnecting Youth are identified from
among set criteria:
1. The student is behind in credits for a grade level, is in the highest 25th percentile for
absences, and has a GPA below 2.3.
2. The student has a prior dropout status.
3. The student is referred by school personnel and meets one or more of the criteria in
point 1.
Program Components
The Reconnecting Youth class consists of 10 to 12 students and incorporates social support
and life-skills training into a daily, semester-long class using a 75-lesson curriculum. The class
is part of the high school curriculum, and students are usually invited (but are not required) to
participate in the class. Students who do take part in Reconnecting Youth receive course credit
for
participating.
Program Theory
The Reconnecting Youth class is a theory-based intervention that incorporates components of
strain, social learning, and social control theories into an integrated model. The class
concentrates on two essential components: social support and life-skills training. The social
support elements framing the program are 1) a network component built on prosocial
relationship bonds emerging between the teacher and students and within the intervention peer
group, and 2) a social support process derived from the group interaction processes and lifeskills
training. The life-skills training consists of four elements: self-esteem enhancement,
decision-making, personal control, and interpersonal communication. Each unit’s presentation is
sequenced, beginning with skill introduction, skill development, application, and finally skill
transfer and relapse prevention. Problem-related skills are also included in each unit and are
applied to the central program goals, such as increasing mood management to decrease
depression, suicide risk behavior, and anger control problems.
Key Personnel
The Reconnecting Youth Leader who runs the class (usually a school staff member who excels
at working with high-risk youth and has completed the Reconnecting Youth training module)
monitors class attendance, school achievement, moods, drug involvement, and social
interactions. The Reconnecting Youth Leader also helps establish drug-free social activities and
friendships.
Additional Information: Negative Program Effects
A randomized controlled trial (described below in Evaluation Methodology and Outcomes)
compared high-risk youth in high school who participated in the Reconnecting Youth program to
high-risk youth who did not participate in the program. At the 6-month follow-up, the program
was found to have had significant negative effects on measures of conventional peer bonding
and peer high-risk behavior, and had no significant effects on measures of delinquency, alcohol
use, smoking, GPA, anger, and school connectedness.
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