Changing Perspectives on Alternative Schooling for Children and Adolescents With Challenging Behavior
By Gable, Robert A; Bullock, Lyndal M; Evans, William H
There is increasing evidence that a mismatch exists between the structure of the schools and the cultural, social, and linguistic background of some segments of the school-aged population. This mismatch is often exemplified in the academic and behavioral expectations and performance of some students. In this article, the authors discuss the reciprocal nature and effect that learning and behavioral problems have on students. Next, the authors highlight selected programs that have impacted the course of intervention programs for children and youth. Characteristics that distinguish current alternative programs for students and variables that appear essential to qualify programming are presented. Last, the authors encourage more communication and interaction between researchers and practitioners concerning critical issues related to alternative schooling.
KEY WORDS: alternative schools, corrections, discipline, involuntary placement, mental health, remediation
OVER TIME, VARIOUS SOCIAL, political, and economic forces have produced major changes in our system of public education. In the early stages of education, schools were simply expected to give children access to an education (Van Acker, 2004). Instruction focused mainly on the rote learning of core academic subjects, whereas classroom discipline served primarily as a way to keep children in line (Katz, 1972). Many teachers relied on harsh disciplinary practices that included shame, humiliation, and corporal punishment. The goal was to generate compliance, conformity, and respect for authority among children who, once they completed their schooling, could easily be assimilated into a burgeoning workforce (e.g., Ysseldyke & Algozzine, 1990).
Katz (1972) identifies four separate initiatives that differed according to ownership, control, and the role of education in the larger society in his account of the emergence of public schooling in America. In the end, Katz asserts that incipient bureaucracy triumphed in a system in which education, morality, and docility were combined to define a properly educated citizen. Critics of our present education system might understandably claim that some things have not changed significantly in 200 years. Indeed, current discipline policies appear to mirror earlier practices. As in the past, a common response today to disruptive classroom behavior is the imposition of an aversive consequence (Colvin, Sugai, & Kameenui, 1999; Skiba & Peterson, 2000, 2003; Witt, 1986). Figures show that a zero tolerance attitude regarding student misbehavior has lead to a substantial increase in the number of students annually suspended or expelled from public schools (Skiba & Peterson, 2003). Unfortunately, for some youngsters, misbehavior is the first step on the slippery slope that leads to more restrictive placement (e.g., detention centers, correctional facilities, treatment programs).
In the following article, we examine some of the major issues surrounding children and adolescents who fail to behave acceptably in school. First, we discuss the reciprocal nature and deleterious effects that learning and behavior problems have on students. We focus attention on discipline in schools and the impact of various practices on student outcomes. Next, we highlight programs that, beginning in the late 1940s through the early 1970s, dramatically altered the course of education and treatment of children and adolescents with challenging behavior. Then, we identify characteristics that distinguish current alternative programs for children and youth and variables that appear essential to quality programming. Finally, we encourage researchers to talk more to practitioners and vice versa about critical issues that relate to alternative schooling.
The Changing Scene in Public Education
A mismatch exists between the structure of schools and the cultural, social, and linguistic background of some segments of the stu