Alternative High School Education

Annotated References Handout

EmilieFiala,Johanna Uribe, Alyssa Hernandez, Federico Garcia
Tessa Spurlock

Empirical Studies
Equity and Excellence In Public Schools: The Role of the Alternative School

This article touches upon how alternative high schools were first created as a means of
creating some sense of equity among students of diverse backgrounds. It goes on to give
a brief history of alternative high schools. The article proceed to admitting that alternative
school graduates fall short than their mainstream counterparts.
Sagor, Richard. "Equity And Excellence In Public Schools: The Role Of The Alternative
School." Clearing House 73.2- (1999): 72-75. ERIC. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ594713&site=ehost-live

Who Attends Alternative High Schools? by Carole G. Fuller and David A. Sabatino

Those who attend alternative high schools are students who have academic, social, and
behavioral problems and are identified as at risk students. They are identified as such
because students that display this kind of problems are at risk or prone to drop out of high
school. At risk students can be identified by nine factors: : (1) records of poor academic
achievement, (2) family backgrounds of low socioeconomic and cultural status, (3) poor
school achievement after several social promotions, (4) truancy, (5) no membership in
school extracurricular activities, (6) verbal abilities inferior to nonverbal abilities, (7)
records of repeated norm-violating disruptive behaviors, (8) a peer group composed of
similar students, and (9) a negative attitude toward school (294).

The purpose of alternative high schools was to prevent students to go through

academic failure, dropping out of school, and social failure, to prevent them from going
to juvenile hall or prison and building a criminal record.

Extensive research on problems and descriptions but not a lot of research on at risk
students themselves based on demographics and personal characteristics. It also touches
upon how at risk youth is increasing, alternative schools are centers to develop academic
and behavioral skills, how without alternative schools students are up for suspension and
expulsion, and how alternative schools retain students in school environments reducing
criminal behavior in communities

Fuller, C. G., & Sabatino, D. A.. (1996). Who Attends Alternative High Schools?. The
High School Journal, 79(4), 293297. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40364497
Evaluating Alternative High Schools: Program Evaluation in Action
This article touches upon how alternative high schools cater to at risk students, or in other
words the most vulnerable students. This is a case study in which a high school is
evaluated for it success or lack of. The article makes the point that their is little
information on how alternative high schools are successful, or not; therefore, this article
talks about The Alternative High School Program Evaluation kit, which is designed to
measure alternative high school effectiveness in meeting the needs of at risk students.
Hinds, Drew Samuel Wayne. "Evaluating Alternative High Schools: Program Evaluation
in Action." ProQuest LLC (2013). ERIC. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED558388&site=ehost-live

Other Resources

Alternative Education: A Brief History and Research Synthesis

This is long document about Alternative education and how it began. It discusses the
outcomes of students who are in the program. There is a great deal of information about
alternative education including, stigma, types of alternative education, dropout rates of
schools, and much more.

Lange, Cheryl M., and Sandra J. Sletten. "Alternative Education: A Brief History and
Research Synthesis." For full text:http://www. nasdse. org/forum. htm., 2002.
http://alternatyvusisugdymas.lt/uploads/2009/12/alternative_ed_history.pdf
Alternative Education
This link is to the Monterey County Office of Education and discusses how the school
districts in Monterey are attempting to run alternative high schools. There is a mission
statement, goals for the alternative schools, outcomes students are expected to meet when
they graduate, Learning Results for the students, and more. There are also other links to
supplemental services, partnerships, local schools, and other helpful links.
Monterey County Office of Education. "Alternative Education" Obtained from Online
2016. Online https://www.montereycoe.org/programs-services/alternative-education/
Who Attends Alternative High Schools?
This article talks about who attends Alternative High Schools. The students that attend
this program are the ones that are academically at-risk students display inappropriate
school behaviors, social problems, and are drop-out prone. This program will stop
academic failure and prevent them from dropping out of school.

Fuller, Carole G., and David A. Sabatino. Who Attends Alternative High Schools?. The
High
School
Journal
79.4
(1996):
293297.
Web...Retrieved
from:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40364497

Critical Analysis of Accountability Policy in Alternative Schools: Implications for School

Leaders

Here we learn about the expansion of alternative education to provide better access for
students that are struggling in high school so that they can successfully graduate. The
expansion of Alternative education will result a higher graduation rates. It is suggested
that school leaders of alternative high schools leaders received the same recognition as
leaders in regular high schools because little is known about how these alternative high
schools work, or who makes the success of these students possible. Equity in recognition
and support is asked by alternative high schools.
Hemmer, Lynn M., Jean Madsen, and Mario S. Torres. "Critical Analysis of
Accountability Policy in Alternative Schools: Implications for School Leaders." Journal
of Educational Administration 51.5 (2013): 655-79. ProQuest. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.
School-wide positive behavior support in an alternative school setting: A case study
Here we learn about School Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS), which purpose is
to support students with serious behavior problems. This is a study on the effects of
SWPBS in the students in Alternative High Schools. This program is needed because
there is a lack of support for this students. According to this study the involvement of
SWPBS decreases the incidents with students with danger behavior.
Simonsen, Brandi. , Lisa Britton, & Dale Young. . School-wide positive behavior
support in an alternative school setting: A case study. Journal of Positive Behavior
Interventions, (2010): 12(3), 180-191. Sage Journals. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. Retrieved
from: http://pbi.sagepub.com.library2.csumb.edu:2048/content/12/3/180#cited-by

Other Helpful Links

http://xerxes.calstate.edu/monterey/articles/record?id=FETCH-LOGICALe2849bb029e5bc31568a9d37ecdc04b707471d10573dc9b2b72c61cb980989d

http://www.santacruz.k12.ca.us/alt_ed/schools/watsonville.html

http://www.santacruz.k12.ca.us/alt_ed/schools/tap/index.html

http://cchs-mpusd-ca.schoolloop.com/

http://learnyourwayacademy.com/2013/01/31/alternatives-to-traditional-high-school/

http://parentingteens.about.com/od/highschool/a/alternative-high-schools-teens.htm

http://horizon.unc.edu/projects/HSJ/Knutson.html

http://www.johnholtgws.com/homeschooling-high-school-and-college/
http://study.com/articles/Alternative_High_Schools_Pros_and_Cons.html