This paper describes the methodological design of a qualitative research strategy that followed the bricolage approach. The research, a qualitative case study, followed the empowerment journey of 12 adult learners in a second chance educational programme, aiming at recording the mechanisms through which the learners were empowered or disempowered.…

This qualitative case study examined the role of peer support in the college success of high school equivalency (HSE) students. While many students complete HSE credentials with postsecondary hopes and intentions, few studies have investigated how to effectively support HSE students on their pathways to and through postsecondary education. This…

This study centers the experiences of 9 Latinas enrolled in a continuation high school. This study attempts to understand how this continuation school engages with Latinas and attempts to improve their conditions and opportunities in this marginalized sector that is overrepresented with racially minoritized youth. Despite all the challenges they…

Alternative education is one of the contexts that receives little attention in research and practice. This narrative inquiry study explores the narrative of a school counselor at a continuation high school to better understand his experiences, challenges, contradictions, and opportunities of serving in an unfamiliar educational sector. This paper…

California law requires that school districts create clear and consistent identification, placement, and intake policies for the voluntary transfer of students to the legislatively-defined continuation schools (Cal. Educ. Code §48432.3). The intent of the law is to ensure fair and equitable access to continuation school opportunities that provide…

Discourses about educators in continuation high school suggest that many of them are forced or pushed out to work in this educational sector by their school districts as a form of punishment. Yet, whether this still holds truth requires an examination of the experiences of educators in continuation high schools. This phenomenological study…

Latino boys and young men often carry the debt of violence into different spaces. This invisible trauma manifests into disruptive behaviors in schools. It is well documented that violence in urban communities and schools has received significant attention from researchers, but little attention has been paid to Latino male youth as individuals and…

This paper invokes the voices of young people who had been separated from mainstream schooling because they were positioned as "disengaged" and "at risk of failing". The authors argue that streaming students out of schooling needs serious questioning as an escalating number of young people are framed as non-performers within a…

Alternative education provides different and powerful opportunities for learning. In this article, the author focuses on students who resist stereotypes that are produced and maintained by dominant powers and ideologies, and who share their knowledge and experiences with systemic marginalization. Drawing from classroom videos, qualitative…

RPA (Raising of Participation Age) legislation re-positioned all youth in England to participate in post-16 education and training, the ultimate aim to develop 'human capital'. However, how does RPA play out in practice with previously NEET (not in education, employment or training) and so-called disengaged youth engaged on a Level 1…

This study describes an intervention developed to implement several best transition practices with a high risk/high need population. In all, 116 students with disabilities from a charter school for dropouts participated. All students were interviewed at different points in time to track their progress as they completed the program. Records of…

Youth who have disengaged from and subsequently returned to school are qualitatively different from students with continual educational enrollment. In this study, we examined the validity for two measures: the Adult Hope Scale (AHS) and Persistence in Goal Striving (PGS) Scale, among two samples of reengaged students (i.e., students who have…

This report focuses on the percentages of graduates and dropouts in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools when broken down by both ethnicity/race and gender. The percentages in outcome categories for this report are based on a four-year adjusted cohort model. For the purposes of this report, students at the end of their four-year high school…

The objective of this paper is to better understand the factors that affect the chances of re-engaging early school leavers in education, with a particular focus on the importance of time out from school (duration dependence) and school-related factors. Using data from three cohorts of the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth and duration…

This three-phase, two-method qualitative study explored and identified policies, programs, and practices that school-site administrators perceived as most effective in reengaging at-risk students emotionally, behaviorally, and cognitively at 10 California Model Continuation High Schools (MCHS). Eccles' expectancy-value theoretical framework was…