There are a number of school related problems in New Jersey that make it difficult for returning youth, previously held in juvenile detention facilities or residential juvenile programs to successfully complete their education. These problems can vary in degree from short enrollment delays to complete exclusion from school. In addition, most of theses problems have not been adequately addressed. This paper identifies school related problems confronting youth in the State of New Jersey who are returning to local communities and schools. The paper begins by providing a summary description of youth who return to schools and communities from local detention facilities and Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC) residential and day programs. School problems identified include: (1) lack of attention paid to returning youth by State and local education officials; (2) resistance to the readmission of returning youth in local programs; (3) failure to accept credits earned at JJC and detention facility schools; (4) timing and attendance; (5) lack of appropriate programs and services in local district and county education programs; (6) inconsistency in detention facility, JJC, and local education programs; (7) failure to timely transfer of records and information; (8) failure to include local school officials in after care transition planning; (9) quality of detention facility and JJC education programs; (10) special education problems; and (11) failure to collect data related to the educational performance of youth. Recommendation for increasing the educational achievement of youth returning to local communities and schools from juvenile programs are presented and discussed. References