The authors in this study examined the client satisfaction of chronically disruptive students and their families (clients) following a mandatory alternative school assignment. Specifically, they looked at the satisfaction of the involved families and their responses recorded through three surveys completed at exit interviews during the 1999-2000…

This study describes the application of temperament styles to school-based mental health practice in an alternative school and illustrates how a multidisciplinary team consisting of a special education teacher, health educator, and social worker used temperament to maximize effective interactions with a student who had been placed in the school…

This process evaluation examines the psychosocial services of students who were assigned to an alternative educational program for disciplinary reasons. Study demonstrates the intensive school social work services needed by students assigned to an alternative educational program before they can begin to be productive in traditional school.…

Ecomaps are diagrams that depict an individual or a family within a societal context, demonstrating the energy, supports, and resources necessary to maintain specific relationships. Genograms are family trees that identify emotional relationships and intergenerational family patterns. When combined, practitioners can synthesize the information to…

Presents preliminary results of portfolio use as the focal point of strengths-based interventions designed to increase students' chances of re-entry into mainstream education. Describes use of the portfolio to support a multisystemic intervention program for chronically disruptive students, to foster recognition of student strengths, and to…

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of an alternative-school program. The research compared 1 year of the program, where there was no parental involvement, with a second year, which included family-based interventions. It was hypothesized that family involvement would generate greater improvement in students' psychosocial functioning, academic…

Evaluates the effectiveness of a family-school-community intervention model in an off-campus disciplinary alternative school. Finds positive changes in students' self-esteem and life skills and significant improvement in their attendance and grades while in the program. All except two students were still in school 1 year after leaving the program.…

Two cohorts of students attending an alternative school for chronically disruptive youth received either the standard program or the standard program with additional family involvement. The experimental group experienced statistically significant improvements in locus of control, grade point averages, attendance, and reduced dropout rate, relative…

Although outcomes for alternative schools may be mixed, it is generally agreed that counseling, therapy, group work, case management, and family-community involvement have been credited in some effective programs. This study examined program evaluations from 1994-1999 for an alternative school for chronically disruptive students (599 students,…