The Exploration Alternative School: A Case Study

Abstract

Introduction The Exploration Alternative High School is located in a small western North Carolina town. The program serves 15-20 at risk high school students who are in academic or other difficulties in the regular high school due to abandonment, neglect, drug abuse, violent acting out, absenteeism, or learning disability. Students participate in the program voluntarily and must apply to be admitted. This paper is a case study of the program and an exploration of the match between at risk issues and the services provided by alternative learning programs. Alternative programs, with a few notable exceptions, are frequently used to address the needs of students who are perceived to be at risk. Raywid (1994) identifies three types of alternative schools: Type I are schools that students participate in by choice, and they tend to resemble magnet schools, in that they adhere to a particular pedagogical method or emphasize a subject area. Type II schools are typically `last chance' programs for students about to be expelled from the system. These schools are more concerned with discipline than academics and are structured accordingly. Type III programs are remedial programs for academic and social skills. Often the focus is on emphasizing the community aspects of the school. Despite their apparent lack of similarity, these three types of alternative school programs are alike in that they all deviate from the traditional school in terms of the number and length of classes offered, a small teacher to student ratio, and changes in the structure of the school itself. Any given type of program would be expected to deal with a myriad of diverse symptoms that place students `at risk.' The term `at risk' has been used to refer to everything from the developmental prognoses of a given set of infants to various forms of social disruption (Winborne & Dardaine-Ragguet, 1993). In the current parlance, it indicates an ill-defined segment of the student population, manifesting everything from social maladjustment to membership in a minority racial category. Specifically, a student can be thought of as at risk if he is subject to inadequate parenting (Strother, 1991), illiterate, comes from low-income homes, suffers from a `cultural mismatch between home and school, or lacks the necessary life experiences to participate successfully in school (Garcia, Pearson, & Jimenez, 1994). The three broad categories of alternative schools listed above all represent attempts to come to terms with the myriad of problems which place students at risk of academic failure. Most school systems have only one alternative school, even though the at risk students present a wide variety of issues. This `one size fits all' approach to alternative schools often fails to address particular types of student problems. Of the three types of alternative schools, Exploration is most closely associated with the Type III remediation program. It focuses upon creating a community spirit among the students that facilitates the growth of social skills, as well as helping students to succeed academically. Case Study: The Exploration Program A Typical Day in the Exploration Program. The school day begins at Valley View High School's Exploration program around 8:30 am. Most students sit on the couches that line two walls of the small program's main meeting room. Some sit on the floor, while others sit in chairs, forming a circle with those sitting on the couches. Some students, mainly ones who have been in the program for a time, talk excitedly to each other. The newcomers sit quietly together on one couch. A few seem a bit agitated. One, who has just come from an in-patient psychiatric facility, stares in medicated silence. The two counselors sit in chairs in the circle. The group begins its day with a check-in. Each member of the group talks about how he feels and what he hopes to accomplish that day. …