Urban Students' Reengagement Through a Dropout Recovery Initiative

• In Event: Urban Education Initiatives Across Settings and Contexts

Abstract

This study describes the perceptions of 17 students enrolled in an alternative urban high school focused on student recovery and retention. Individual interviews with students reveal themes related to barriers students faced in traditional school settings, and the school structural and climate factors that promoted their re-engagement in the alternative setting. These perceptions can serve to inform how urban schools and communities can create programming that optimally addresses the needs of students who are both at-risk and who have already opted out.

Authors

• Pamela Arnold, Old Dominion University

• Shanan L. Chappell, Old Dominion University, The Center for Educational Partnerships

• John A. Nunnery, Old Dominion University

• Terrell Perry, Old Dominion University

• Jasmine Davis, Old Dominion University