TPC Journal V7, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

170 The Professional Counselor | Volume 7, Issue 2 approaches (Conley, 2002). Alternative schools tried to offer more freedom and prospects for success for students. However, most alternative schools from this era were short-lived. In the mid-1990s, alternative learning environments started providing programs to schools (including public and private voucher programs, charter schools, and magnet programs) in an effort to solve issues of poor student achievement, ineffective pedagogical methods, and an increasing inability to meet the needs of diverse families (Kim, 2006). Two pieces of legislation were introduced that modified the number and types of students being served by alternative education settings. The first legislation was the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994, which mandated that students who brought weapons to school be expelled and/or sent to alternative educational settings for a period of 1 year (Prior, 2010; Stone, 2003). Zero tolerance policies were a product of this legislation and created the stage for a dramatic increase in student suspensions and expulsions from school. These referrals led to more placements in alternative education schools. The second piece of legislation introduced was the Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1997, which allowed individualized education program teams to place students with disabilities in appropriate interim alternative education settings for up to 45 days (Prior, 2010). According to Prior (2010), Richardson (2012), and Stone (2003), there are three types of alternative schools: Type I alternative schools are schools of choice that mimic magnet schools; Type II alternative schools are last-chance programs; and Type III alternative schools are disciplinary programs that focus on remediation or rehabilitation. Typically, the goal of Type II and Type III schools is to return students to their home schools after successful treatment (Stone, 2003). Today, alternative schools are often viewed by the public as places for students who are disruptive, deviant and dysfunctional, rather than as positive alternative solutions for students whose needs are not being met by traditional schools. Many believe these schools exist to segregate troublemakers in one place to better protect the students in traditional schools (Conley, 2002; Kim, 2006). Out-of-school suspension and expulsion are widely used practices in American school systems, which only further isolate students from education. As a result, more than 3.3 million students are suspended each year and these students are at greater risk of not remaining in school (T. Lee, Cornell, Gregory, & Fan, 2011; Smith & Harper, 2015). Students who have received disciplinary infractions for excessive absenteeism, disrespectful behavior, disrupting class, fighting, profanity, refusal to obey, tardiness, theft, truancy and verbal altercations may be recommended for expulsion from school. In lieu of expulsion, students may be allowed to attend an alternative academy within the school district. One of the goals of alternative schools is to provide students with a second chance (Kim, 2006). The alternative academy is a smaller, more supportive Type III environment that focuses on providing students with academic and behavioral skills. In some alternative schools, short-term placements are utilized for students who are suspended or expelled, offering the students opportunities to return to traditional school settings (Blythewood Academy, 2013; Richardson, 2012). The eligibility for the student to return to the traditional school setting is based on fulfillment of certain requirements or assessments (Richardson, 2012). 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,