Who Belongs in Mainstream Schools: Alternative School Transfer, Push-Out, and Student Reengagement

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 2:30 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Social Mobility, Belonging, and Access to Opportunity: Perspectives From Across the Globe (Table 28)

Abstract

The half a million students transferring to alternative schools annually in the US represent some of the most vulnerable and highest-need students: those who have disengaged from school due to poor grades, lack of attendance, behaviors labeled disruptive, pregnancy, and the need to work or provide family care. The system they enter is isolated, ignored, and largely unaccountable. Within a large urban district where more than 10% of high school students attend an alternative school, this paper uses original data on students’ reasons for transferring to understand the systematic patterns and forces contributing to student entry into alternative schools, with particular attention to concerns of school push-out and other processes that may contribute to structural inequalities.

Authors

• Rebecca Hinze-Pifer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Samantha Guz, University of Alabama