"Traditions Are Not for Me": Alternative Schooling and Formerly Incarcerated Young Black Men's Academic Success

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Exposing the Links Between Criminology and Education: Needed Conversations for Policy, Practice, and System Change

Abstract

Purposes: Formerly incarcerated youth often have low educational attainment following incarceration, leaving them at high risk for unstable employment and contact with the adult criminal justice system (Holman & Ziedenbeg, 2006). While school enrollment and engagement is known to prevent recidivism (Uggen, 2000), less is known about how alternative schools can facilitate positive schooling experiences and outcomes among youth following incarceration. This study therefore explored the mechanisms within an alternative school that can bolster formerly incarcerated youths’ resilience characteristics that are associated with academic success. This study focused specifically on mechanisms that can enhance young Black men’s resilience as they are at high risk for school failure and recidivism (Justice Center, 2015; Sickmund et al., 2015).

Theoretical Framework: Educational Resilience served as the guiding lens for this study (Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1997). This perspective identifies environmental factors (i.e., caring/support relationships, high expectations, meaningful opportunities for participation) within the school context that are protective and promotes positive academic and psychosocial experiences among students facing significant adversity (Benard, 2004; Brooks, 2006; Ungar, 2013; Wang et al., 1997).

Methods: A qualitative case study of an alternative school that provides education and vocational training and social supports to formerly incarcerated youth in Los Angeles County was conducted. Enrolled students (n=117) were 67% male, 54% African American/Black, aged 18.7 (on average), and 74% had been involved in the justice system. Data collection consisted of 12 months of field observations (n=33), semi-structured interviews with school personnel (n=4) and formerly incarcerated young Black men (n=8), and one focus group with case managers (n=4). A review of organizational documents, class handouts, and student work was also conducted. Data analysis and interpretation consisted of a range of inductive techniques, including coding, constant comparison, and memo’ing.

Results: The theme, “Traditions are not for me”, describe how the alternative school’s non-traditional curriculum bolsters formerly incarcerated young Black men’s resilience in ways that can facilitate academic success. Specifically, the multicultural curriculum (i.e., culturally relevant teaching and instructors) offered the young men opportunities to meaningfully participate in the learning process and time to build caring and supportive relationships. The individualized academic approach also provided opportunities for meaningful participation, as it allowed the young men to work at their own pace. It also influenced instructors to view themselves as facilitators of learning, which increased opportunities for them to communicate high expectation messages. Collectively, these mechanisms appeared to enhance the young men’s academic self-efficacy, optimism, and problem-solving skills as they participated in the learning process.

Significance: These findings highlight the important role space, place, and relationships play in bolstering formerly incarcerated young Black men’s educational resilience in the context of an alternative school. Findings also contribute to resilience literature by uncovering cultural-ecological factors within an alternative school that are protective and promotive. The inductive approach of this case study also provides methodological implications for resilience research to discern culturally diverse understandings of positive youth development in the face of adversity.

Author

• Charles H. Lea, University of Houston