Volume_7_Issue_2_Digest

10 TPC Digest Viki P. Kelchner, Kathy Evans, Kathrene Brendell, Danielle Allen, Cassandre Miller, Karen Cooper-Haber The Effect of a School-Based Transitional Support Intervention Program on Alternative School Youth’s Attitudes and Behaviors A lternative schools proliferated in the 1960s and 1970s. Alternative schools were initially designed to provide a positive alternative to conventional learning environments for students who were unable to succeed in traditional learning environments, but the trend today is for alternative schools to function as separate retributory schools for undesirable children. Frequently, students who are most vulnerable to dropping out of school are those who have attended an alternative school. Out-of-school suspension and expulsion are widely used practices in American school systems, which only further isolate students from education and may result in students being placed in alternative school settings. Students returning from alternative academies to their home schools may face an array of challenges. The transition back to the home school can be difficult for a number of reasons. Students returning from an alternative school setting to a traditional school setting have to readjust to the larger classroom sizes and less one-on-one assistance with their academic studies. The students are often behind in their studies because they are placed in classes at their home schools that are further along than the classes they were taking at the alternative academies. In addition, they tend to be labeled “at-risk” for school failure because of their attendance at an alternative school, no matter how much academic potential they may possess. Likewise, there is a sense of disconnectedness to the home school and disconnectedness with the faculty and staff. The primary goal of alternative programs is to transition students back to their traditional educational environment, the home school. There is little research about this transition and how to best meet the needs of transitioning youth. Coordinated planning can minimize the anxiety and negative elements experienced by students, families and teachers that can accompany the transition from one educational setting to another. A lack of appropriate transition and support programming can negate the benefits received from the alternative school. Students have the potential to regress to prior negative behaviors and poor performance because of the loss of support, a return to the environment that already failed them, negative peer influences, and labeling and stigmatization by both peers and school personnel, which may lead to re-suspension or ultimately to dropping out of school. The purpose of this study was to look at the effects of a school-based transitional support intervention program for students returning from an alternative school setting to a traditional educational setting. A two-phase behavioral intervention was implemented. The first phase was a psychoeducational group that focused on goal setting, self-regulation, organizational skills, study strategies, test-taking strategies and managing text anxiety. During the second phase, the group focus shifted to youth empowerment. The intervention included adult support in the form of group facilitators, mentors and a school advocate. After the conclusion of the intervention program, school attitudes, behavioral indicators and academic success indicators were evaluated. Although there was no significant effect due to treatment on attendance, there was an increase in the percentage of students remaining in school who attended the alternative school, as compared to the year prior to implementing the intervention. In addition, there was a positive effect on school attitudes among the students in the treatment group, indicating an increase in school engagement. Viki Kelchner, NCC, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida. Kathy Evans is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. Kathrene Brendell is Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina. Danielle Allen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Columbia, South Carolina. Cassandre Miller is a graduate student at Syracuse University. Karen Cooper-Haber is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at Lexington Five School District in Columbia, South Carolina. Correspondence can be addressed to Viki Kelchner, Department of Child, Family and Community Sciences, College of Education, P.O. Box 161250, Orlando, FL 32816-1250, viki.kelchner@ucf.edu .