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…

The school lives of culturally diverse young adolescents identified as potential dropouts were studied ethnographically. Data collected across two years indicated that teachers who students considered most successful in helping them learn used practices based on knowledge about students' home cultures and knowledge about the impact of students'…

Examines the current status of cultural diversity in middle school education theory, suggests some developmental characteristics of young adolescents of color that are often overlooked, and proposes some ways that middle school education could be modified to be more responsive to the ethnic and cultural diversity of early adolescents. (SM)