This double issue presents summaries of the scholarly and practical-reform accomplishments of the first five years of the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR). This bold, five-year initiative addressed several of the problems that most directly challenge the values and practical aspirations of modern democracies.

The included articles emphasize how CRESPAR has focused on the schools in many of America's most challenging communities. It has both helped local schools improve themselves and advanced the nation's research base.

This issue was written in commemoration of the life and work of John Henry Hollifield, Jr., founding coeditor. For 28 years, Hollifield served as an editor and administrator at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Social Organization of Schools. When JESPAR was just an idea, Hollifield was one of the people who most strongly advocated its development. He had a ready smile, a fine editorial touch, and a relentless will to produce each excellent issue.

This issue, summarizing much of the research from CRESPAR's first five years, is presented by the full team of authors in his loving memory.