This paper explores the experiences of 12 young people, all teenagers, who have chosen to attend alternative schools known as flexible learning options within the Australian context. Using a phenomenological approach, the study seeks to understand their experiences outside the normalised public discourse that they had "disengaged" from…

Students classified as emotionally disturbed receiving special education services will drop out of school at a rate of 56% nationwide, and one out of three will be incarcerated within 3 years of leaving school. This study provides school personnel and clinicians with new information regarding underlying attachment difficulties and aggression in…

Explains some of the psychological issues surrounding a child's sense of belonging. Highlights consequences of alienation and discusses ways to foster a sense of belonging. Advocates that schools first ensure that teachers feel connected to the school--teachers can then help their students feel like they too belong. (RJM)

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) students experience harassment, alienation, and violence in schools. Several school-based interventions have been suggested to provide a safe and effective learning environment for these students, but few have been evaluated or investigated experimentally. This review utilizes A. K. Ellis' (2001)…

This report reviews the research on school and classroom environments, discusses the implications of such research for the design and evaluation of secondary school programs, and provides an annotated bibliography of the relevant literature. Topics discussed in the review include: (1) the semantics of school environment research; (2) the…

Current knowledge about adolescent development (drawing primarily from developmental pediatrics and psychology) is reviewed to determine whether research and theory can help deepen understanding of why high school continues to be an alienating experience for large numbers of students, and this question is examined through responses of high school…

People worry about dropouts because they believe that leaving high school before graduation is detrimental, both to the individual and to society. This view does not include students' view of the situation, and in order to clarify students' perceptions of at-risk factors, qualitative data on high school seniors were collected. The central question…

A number of studies have suggested that school environment and organizational structure contribute to adolescent alienation, but few have analyzed alienation in a specific geographic context. This paper examines adolescent alienation in a rural school context. Dean (1961) defined alienation as an affective construct consisting of isolation…

A study examining student perceptions of teacher ethnic bias surveyed 2,409 Mexican American and non-Latino white adolescent dropouts and students from three communities in the southwestern United States. Although perceptions of teacher ethnic bias were not rampant, such perceptions existed to a greater degree among dropouts, Mexican Americans,…

Focus groups examined issues of school retention and achievement among male high school students in South Australia. The study was undertaken in light of declining high school graduation rates among boys, particularly in rural areas. Focus groups were conducted with 1,800 boys in years 9, 11, and 12; 60 school representatives were interviewed; and…

;This study examined the nature and prevalence of bullying/victimization by peers and teachers reported by 1,284 students (mean age = 15.2 years) drawn from a representative sample of 25 South Australian government and private schools. Students completed a self-report survey containing questions relating to teacher and peer-related bullying,…