After one of the longest wars in the history of Africa, Southern Sudan accomplished one of the world's quickest education reconstruction programmes. Once the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in 2005, the international donor community and the government and people of Southern Sudan united under a common goal: to increase access to…

This study was conducted in Quebec with 608 students (aged 16-19) in four "second chance" schools of the greater Montreal area. The objectives were twofold: (a) to identify the strategies of these students in the context of five learning activities; and (b) to compare the strategies of students who had withdrawn from school after their…

In the authors' aim to go beyond the "silent" school desk they returned to sources such as public contracts, photographs, advertising leaflets and (the often neglected) patents kept in the municipal archives of Brussels. In this article, they focus on the first half of the twentieth century and two phases of the "life-cycle" of…

A canyonesque gulf has long existed between open academia and many external subject communities. Since 2011, we have been developing and piloting the public open scholar role (Coughlan and Perryman 2012)--involving open academics discovering, sharing and discussing open educational resources (OER) with online communities outside formal education…

This article builds on results from studies of two new pathways in Swedish upper secondary VET. A major reform was launched in 2011 and the restructuring was presented by the Minister of Education as a "renaissance for VET education". The conclusion of the Upper Secondary Commission is that "students shall be more specialised within…

For a variety of reasons, some students who have the potential to become high achievers may not blossom until high school or beyond. By then it may be too late to take advantage of the educational opportunities afforded to students who have been making straight-As since grade school. They are what the author calls "Crooked-A" students,…

Concern has been expressed about the quality of alternative provision for young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and the poor academic and social outcomes many experience. Little research has sought the views of the young people themselves regarding the enablers and barriers to positive outcomes they have encountered. A…

A sandtray group experience is a creative intervention that counselors may want to incorporate into their work with adolescents. This qualitative inquiry explored the experiences of adolescent females who participated in a sandtray group while attending an alternative school. The researchers identified five themes that emerged from the data: (a)…

Background: This article describes a school-wide sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening to identify adolescent high-risk sexual behaviors, STI history/incidence, and presence of chlamydia and gonorrhea, and examines relationships between high-risk behaviors and screening positive for chlamydia and gonorrhea in an alternative high school…

This paper poses a rarely asked question--Re-engagement to where? Or to what valued social purpose for the young people concerned? Drawing from a larger project funded by the Australian Research Council, the paper analyses the "portraits" of two young people whose lives were seemingly better within a re-engagement programme, but whose…

Students who are removed from the regular school setting receive referrals to disciplinary alternative education programs (DAEPs), which focus on behavior management. Because students enroll for less than 30 days, it is important to quickly determine students' level of motivation to change, as doing so allows for immediate connection to…

On December 11, 2013, the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) released graduation rates for the State of Florida and the School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC). In FY2012, the FDOE accountability system began using the Federal Graduation Rate, which is a more rigorous standard than the National Governors Association (NGA) rate used…

Over the past decade, there has been an increased exploration of ePortfolios in higher education across disciplines at both the undergraduate and graduate level. ePortfolios have been significantly under-explored, however, in the context of non-traditional continuing education environments within higher education. This paper explores students'…

The present study investigated differences between students sent to out-of-school facilities (N = 148), also called rebound facilities, and non-referred students (N = 411), in junior vocational high schools. Self-reports on externalizing and antisocial behaviors were used to compare the two samples. Referred students scored significantly higher on…

This Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study represents a collaboration with six students from alternative education to inquire about the experiences of vulnerable youth--students in alternative education and youth who have dropped out of school. Utilizing the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique, youth researchers asked their peers what…