In light of the fact that students at risk of dropping out of school have become the focus of national attention, this paper examines one alternative program designed to work with a population considered to be at very high risk for dropping out. The population served by the School-Community Guidance Center (SCGC) in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District is described as consisting of those students who present with poor attendance patterns, minimal skills, problems with behavior, and some contact with juvenile court authorities. This paper is divided into five segments. The first part looks at the nature of Rice Secondary School which houses the School-Community Guidance Center. The second part looks at services provided by SCGC in 1987-88. The characteristics of the SCGC are the focus of the third section. In the fourth part, the focus is on what happened to students when they left the SCGC. The last section presents results of a dropout study of former Rice students. (ABL)