Care Matters: Student Perspectives of Mental Health Determinants in an Alternative High School

Public alternative schools in the United States are multifaceted educational entities that often serve students marginalized from traditional spaces, yet little research exists highlighting the perceptions of alternative school students regarding mental health–promoting school practices. In this qualitative study, the voices of seven alternative high school students (four female and three male) are presented through the use of a targeted focus group. The following two research questions guided this study: What aspects of the public alternative school environment do students perceive to facilitate their mental health? What aspects of public alternative school environments do students perceive as barriers to mental health? Using qualitative descriptive methods, findings suggested that for these students the alternative school is a unique institution, designed for them, in which they can thrive due to the caring nature of the professionals they encounter. Implications for practitioners dedicated to producing mental health–promoting, inclusive school spaces for marginalized youth are presented.

The Contested Discourses of Yoga, Youth, and Urban Schooling: Paradox and Possibility

Background/Context Yoga, as a recent cultural phenomenon in the United States, is often marketed as a way to relieve stress and anxiety. This has led to yoga becoming widespread in schools, particularly schools that serve low income youth of color. While some advocates argue that yoga can help students navigate highly controlled, standards-based school environments, others assert that yoga is being used as a tool for student compliance rather than liberation. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study addresses the tensions between schooling discourses and yoga discourses, and how youth use their own discourses and agency to navigate those complications. Setting/Population This study took place in an alternative high school program for students who were in danger of not graduating because they had too few credits. Reflecting the community, the participants were low income youth of color. Research Design In this yearlong critical qualitative study, I served as an observer for weekly yoga classes at the school, interviewed the student participants during the fall and the spring, and interviewed the yoga teacher and classroom teacher during the fall and spring. I kept a field journal and wrote memos after every class and analyzed the data from the observations and interviews using critical discourse analysis. Conclusions/Recommendations Even as yoga may serve as a counternarrative to schooling discourses, it is only with intention and practice that it does not reify narratives of power and patriarchy. This is particularly true when the participants themselves may replicate these narratives, such as the participants’ complex use of heteronormative masculine discourses. For yoga to be liberatory in schools, the following aspects should be included: a sense of community where all students feel valued, classroom teacher participation, explicit instruction in the discourses of yoga around acceptance and compassion for oneself and others, and acknowledging school and youth discourses around sports and heteronormativity.

From Talking about to Talking with: Integrating Native Youth Voices into Teacher Education via a Repositioning Pedagogy

In this article, Robert Petrone and Nicholas Rink propose a repositioning pedagogy framework for teacher education. They maintain that a repositioning pedagogy disrupts power dynamics by bringing secondary-aged youth into teacher education courses as compensated consultants and experts to teach future teachers about learning, classroom management, teaching, and other issues pertinent to schooling and the development of pedagogical practices. A repositioning pedagogy responds to the absence of youth voices in teacher education by centering youth and their perspectives in preservice teacher education. In laying out this framework, Petrone and Rink report the findings of a qualitative study in which Native youth attending an alternative high school on a reservation were hired to teach future English teachers about ways to build relationships and curricula to engender success for Native youth in schools. This research explains both the experiences of the youth consultants, which proved to be “transformative,” as well as the structures of a repositioning pedagogy that facilitated this outcome. The article also addresses several areas for further research and consideration to ensure reciprocity and safeguard against undue harm to youth consultants, particularly those for whom schools have historically been unsafe places.

The Authentic Athletic-Academic Model:

Over the past 50 years, the number of alternative schools for at-risk students have increased exponentially. However, the research concerning the students that attend these institutions has been, at best, unhurried. Even more wanting is the research regarding the development and critical evaluation of educational interventions that can motivate and educate these students. The purpose of this paper is to propose an original, interdisciplinary framework aimed at increasing the positive student outcomes of alternative high school students. Drawing on the insights of sociology, psychology, and athletics, the “Athedemic” (Authentic Athletic-Academic) model integrates authentic teaching of academic subjects, athletics, social and emotional learning, and health for a more comprehensive educational approach to improve the student experience and empower youth in alternative educational settings. Future directions of alternative school research are considered.