Alternative Education Program Research Articles

The Role of Young Men's Christian Association in Community Empowerment Through Saul Alinsky's "Human Power" Approach and Its Implications for Community Development in Medan City

The purpose of this study was to analyze the empowerment process carried out by the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) through the "Human Power" approach and its implications for the development of the city of Medan. In this study carried out using qualitative descriptive and data collection techniques used in this study, namely in- depth interviews (In-depth interview) and documentation. The result obtained were changes in public awareness of economic and educational conditions. The aspect of education, the presence of YMCA in forming Community work with the alternative education program Duta Kasih Club which has encouraged children to continue to get education even with informal channels. Then YMCA as an organizer consisting of young people able to touch the issue of youth in joining and building a business unit or credit union (CU), a global alternative tourism package (GATN) and fostering youth capacity to gain skills (Citizenship Education). Empowerment is not a product but a process that is continually sought to build the quality of life of the community. The development approach asserted by Alinsky puts forward "Human Power" as the power to use human energy, the human spirit, and the ability to realize it to others.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF TEACHERS-PHILOLOGISTS IN AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

The article reveals the peculiarities of the American professional training of teachers of philology. The source base is analyzed and the lack of a common understanding of the concept of teacher training model, as well as the identification of concepts of models and approaches to the training of teachers of philology. The problematic issues of interdisciplinary training of teachers-philologists of integrative type for expanding opportunities for professional realization in the modern labor market are identified. The purpose of education and prestige of three types of master's and doctoral schools in American research universities are determined: the school of humanities and natural sciences; vocational schools of medicine, law and entrepreneurship; school of pedagogical education. The article considers such models of training of teachers of philology as intuitive, artistic and craft, scientific and applied, reflective, experimental, critical, collaborative, alternative, which allowed to substantiate scientific and methodological recommendations for improving the professional training of teachers of philology: development and introduction of an alternative model of training of teachers-philologists (alternative educational programs); development of mechanisms to stimulate students of philology to research activities; introduction of innovative teaching methods and technologies on the basis of interactivity, facilitation, collaboration, work in an interdisciplinary team, cooperation and constructive socialization; awareness of the need for interdisciplinary knowledge and skills, professional self-development. It was found that the models of teacher training in the United States have much in common with other countries of the European educational space, and the only model that is purely American is an alternative model of teacher training. Scientific and methodological recommendations for improving the professional training of teachers of philology in Ukraine on the basis of theoretical, organizational and didactic models of professional training in the United States are outlined.

Youths’ Perceptions of How their Self-Determination was Supported in Alternative Programs

We examine youths’ perceptions of their experiences in one of two senior alternative education programs. We used self-determination theory (SDT) as a sensitizing lens to specifically understand students’ perceptions of whether and how their basic psychological needs—needs for autonomy, belonging, and competence—were fostered in the context of these alternative education programs. We used a photo-elicitation activity to position youth as both experts and collaborators in research and knowledge-production processes. In general, youth revealed: (a) that their needs for autonomy, belonging, and competence were being met in the context of alternative program activities; (b) how this was true; and (c) how fulfillment of these needs impacted their relationships, wellbeing, and learning. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

Qualities of thinking in interns of various specialties

The analysis of 98 anonymous profiles of interns in the specialties of urology, anesthesiology and dentistry be performed. For a verbal assessment of the quality of thinking of interns, we used a modified test of thinking and creativity by J. Bruner. The proportion of interns with high theoretical (flexible) thinking was evenly distributed and was quite high in all study groups; the average degree of flexible thinking prevailed among respondents of all groups, but among dentists, its level was 15 and 10% lower than that of urologists and anesthetists, respectively. The high level of creative thinking in interns was identical to the theoretical one, but among anesthetics interns it was 5% lower than in other study groups. The average level of creative thinking prevailed, and the lowest was the smallest in all study groups. Differences in the indicator among interns of different specialties did not have statistical significance. As for clip (quick) thinking, its high level among interns-anesthetists was 10-11% lower than in other study groups. Clip thinking in the system of medical education tends to grow and pushes clinical. Modern medical education requires the formation of a qualitatively new approach to the educational process, based on the formation and development of clinical thinking, taking into account the psychological characteristics of modern youth. The inability for the intern to systematize the acquired knowledge every year causes more and more discontent and leads to a decrease in professional training. The use of tests in education reduces the critical, analytical capabilities of students, again, forcing them to catch only fragments of a particular phenomenon, without clarifying its causes, patterns, without constructing logical circuits. In connection with the foregoing, we see the need to create alternative educational programs, change the structure of the provision of information with a predominance of situational basis, the translation of textbooks in digital form with a multi-level structure.

A Digital Pornography Literacy Resource Co-Designed With Vulnerable Young People: Development of "The Gist".

BackgroundThe impact of viewing pornography at a young age on the sexual health of subgroups of young people is an important public health issue. However, the topic is complex and extremely sensitive, and best practices for research and harm reduction are yet to be defined. Drawing on cross-disciplinary approaches, such as co-design, is one way to achieve a better understanding of the issue among vulnerable young people and to create needs-based and evidence-informed digital resources to promote pornography literacy.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to co-design a relevant, usable, and acceptable digital prototype to address the pornography literacy needs of vulnerable young people.MethodsIn total, 17 young people aged between 14 and 23 years who were engaged in youth services programs or alternative education programs were recruited to participate in 4 co-design workshops with a multidisciplinary design team.ResultsAlthough the participants could identify problems with pornography and critique its messages, they lacked the information to understand alternative healthy attitudes and behaviors. A digital resource that provides detailed and practical information about sex, sexual ethics, and relationships may help vulnerable young people to identify and contrast with any problematic messages they receive from both pornography and society. Embedding this information with pornography literacy messages may be a more effective way of addressing underlying attitudes. Acknowledging information-seeking patterns and leveraging user interaction patterns from commonly used digital platforms among users may enhance engagement with resources. Importantly, digital platforms are perceived among this group as a source of anonymous secondary information but would not be organically accessed among this group without face-to-face conversations as an access point.ConclusionsThis paper highlights the potential for pornography literacy to be embedded within real and practical information about having sex, navigating sexuality, and healthy relationships. The study findings include important recommendations for the conceptualization of digital pornography literacy programs and opportunities for cross-disciplinary co-design research to address complex and emerging health issues.

Connecting Māori Youth and Landscape Architecture Students through Participatory Design

As with many Indigenous cultures, the Māori connection to the land in Aotearoa New Zealand has been weakened by colonization, urbanization and other factors. In particular, Māori youth in their progressively technological world, experience a disconnection from their culture and their land (whenua). Using a participatory design method and designing with the land is proposed as a way to enable cultural reconnection through the reconstruction of identity. Developing ideas from community engagement and place-making with Indigenous groups, in this research landscape architecture students joined with Māori youth (rangatahi) attending an alternative education program to co-design a public community space. The article reflects on the benefits of the community-based participatory research methodology for both groups, including the development of an understanding of the importance of Indigenous knowledge and rebuilding connection to culture and land.

I started letting the teachers in’: what factors contribute to successful educational outcomes for disengaged young adults?

ABSTRACT This paper identifies and examines the narratives of the lived experience of young adults who had been previously disconnected from mainstream education but who are completing, or have successfully completed, an education in an alternative education programme in a regional city in Australia. It highlights the factors that contribute to successful educational outcomes and foregrounds the pedagogical practices that contribute to success. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven current and/or past participants. The narratives and narrative portraits reveal that the structure of learning and teaching environments, supportive relationships, as well as opportunities to identify goals and ambitions and manage fear and anxiety were key factors in achieving successful educational and personal outcomes. Success is influenced by pedagogical practices that are underpinned by an ethos of care, respect and flexibility.

Transitioning From Alternative Education Settings: A Process for Students With Behavioral Challenges

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) experience some of the poorest outcomes of all students. They are also placed in alternative education (AE) settings more frequently than students in other disability categories. For some of these students, the ultimate goal is to return to the traditional school. A systematic, five-part process provides a framework that begins with planning for transition upon entry to an AE program and proceeds through monitoring student progress after returning to the traditional school. The process allows educators, students, and parents to work as a collaborative team to support youth transitioning from an AE setting to a traditional school.

FUTURE OF A CHILD WITH AUTISM: NARRATIVE ANALYSIS OF THEIR PARENTS’ ATTITUDE

Results: The study involved four fathers that each are raising a child with a diagnosis of autism.Comparing the narratives of the participants in the study, the interrelated components emerged, which constitute a narrative of the parental attitude towards the child’s future.Conclusions: The spreading of autism on a global scale, affecting more and more people without any restrictions on gender, race, social layer or other human identifications, creates new theories and promotes the scientific research of the spreading of autism. Autism is an interdisciplinary challenge that requires a wide range of research.Reconstructing the narrative of parents who raise children with autism does not contradict the factors found in scientific literature, they are expanded by individual experiences. Parents’ stories revealed the interrelated components that make up the narrative of the parental attitudes towards the child’s future: near future, additional education, education, and the farther future.The narrative of the near future revealed that parental narratives are dominated by the three components of the narrative: the child’s social relationships (parents’ expectations focus on the desire for the child to interact with peers and acquire social skills), the acquisition of minimal academic knowledge (parents are deeply experiencing their child’s failures in elementary reading, writing skills, calculation skills), childhood diagnosis (most feared complications, diagnosis of weight loss).The narrative of supplementary education highlighted the limitations of access to non-formal education for children with autism. Parental stories reveal that for a child with autism disorder, the involvement of parents in the educational process and the opportunity to develop not only in school, but also in non-formal education institutions is important. The lack of specific education curricula for the development of children with autism is also highlighted in the reality of education, and professionals working in the form of non-formal, alternative education programs that are paid have a significant impact on family budgets.The narrative of education revealed that parents understand the meaning of education and want children to pursue a vocational education. The current situation is not satisfactory for parents, they expect inclination for the society to change.Further narrative of the future reflects the parents’ expectations regarding the independent lives of children, their ability to care for themselves and the ability to create their own families. It turned out that parents’ narratives about each component are accompanied by anxiety and feelings of fear, but in all stories there is also an aspect of hope. With paramount expectations parents are striving for recognition in society, the development of the educational system, the progress of medicine and diagnostics.The research revealed the social and emotional significance of the family, while actualizing the fact that the child’s disability affects the social participation of the whole family and determines the importance of complex care for the whole family.

(In)visibilization of English learners in Minnesota’s state-approved alternative programs

ABSTRACT Speakers of languages other than English are positioned as problems within education systems and ‘low’ academic English proficiency is viewed as something to be fixed. Alternative education programs are typically viewed as punitive, substandard, exclusionary academic settings. Therefore, speakers of languages other than English (ELs) enrolled in alternative education programs face what we refer to as hybrid imagery challenges. This paper examines enrollment of ELs in Minnesota’s State Approved Alternative Programs (SAAPs), highlighting the hybrid imagery challenges in language policy and planning (LPP). We juxtapose principal (building administrator) beliefs about low EL enrollment with state-level enrollment reports, to reveal the impacts of unplanned language planning at the state-level and theorize how various actors enact agency in ways that (in)visibilize ELs enrolled in Minnesota’s SAAPs. We identify the monoglossic language ideological stance that pervades a state committed to improving the educational conditions for ELs. We call for immediate action in three areas: (1) research that examines why ELs are disproportionately enrolled in alternative education programs; (2) education policies that assume a heteroglossic stance, viewing language development as lifelong; and (3) approaches that disrupt linguistically inequitable school practices every day, especially those that one has contributed to themselves.

Putting students at the center: Empowering urban alternative education teachers through culturally relevant and sustaining unit planning

Conducted in an urban alternative education program for adolescents ages 17—21, this study provides an overview of a professional development program that sought to support teachers in developing unit plans that incorporated backwards design principles and culturally relevant and sustaining instruction. The authors offer a qualitative thematic analysis of teachers’ subsequent instructional products and classroom observations, highlighting the ways in which the teachers addressed cultural competence, potential for student academic success and intellectual growth, and sociopolitical consciousness. Implications for future professional development and research are highlighted, particularly for administrators, coaches, researchers, and teachers who work within urban alternative settings with students of various abilities and who are linguistically and ethnically diverse.

Focus on alternative education: An exploratory case study

This study explored practices that lead an alternative education program (AE) to improve student performance and progress toward graduation and transition. Eight former and current AE students were interviewed about their reasons for leaving regular schools and their perspectives regarding AE placements. The findings favor the implication of properly addressing environment, planning, delivery, and collaboration practices, each which enables at-risk students to succeed and transition to regular-education or post-secondary placements.

A descriptive analysis of disciplinary consequence assignments to Grades 3 through 8 students in special education: A Texas statewide, multiyear investigation

In this investigation, the numbers and percentages of students who were enrolled in special education and who received a discipline consequence (i.e., in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, expulsion, Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placement, and Juvenile Justice Education Program placement) during the 2012-2013 through 2015-2016 school years were determined. In each of these four school years, the number of students in special education who were assigned an exclusionary discipline assignment steadily decreased. The percentages of the total exclusionary assignments given to students in special education, however, did not decrease but rather remained stable across the four school years. Recommendations for research and implications are discussed along with suggestions for policy and practice.

Ethnic/Racial disparities in Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placements for Texas Grade 6, 7 and 8 boys: A statewide, multiyear analysis

Ethnic/Racial disparities in Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placements for Texas Grade 6, 7 and 8 boys: A statewide, multiyear analysis

Differences between adolescents who do and do not successfully complete their program within a non-residential alternative education facility

In this retrospective longitudinal study we examined which characteristics of 114 Dutch adolescents, aged 12–18 years, and their environment, predicted (un)successful completion of a non-residential alternative educational program for adolescents with complex problems, who are at risk for school drop-out or residential placement. The adolescents received care and education in a non-residential alternative educational facility (School2Care) for a mean period of 9.6 months (SD = 5.5 months). 69% successfully completed the program, and 31% unsuccessfully completed the program, ending in residential placement or living at home without school attendance, work or internship. Case file analyses showed that younger age, disruptive behavior disorder and one-parent families predicted unsuccessful program completion. It should therefore be examined whether the alternative educational program can be improved to better meet the needs of younger adolescents, adolescents with disruptive behavior disorder, and from one-parent families.

Exclusionary Discipline Consequences and Reading Performance of Grades 3 Through 8 Students in Special Education: A Statewide, Multiyear Analysis

In this investigation, the academic performance of students in special education who received between 1 to 30 days, between 31-60, and more than 60 days in a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placement and had STAAR Reading Level I: Unsatisfactory, STAAR Reading Level II: Satisfactory, STAAR Reading Level II: Phase-In Satisfactory, and STAAR Reading Level III: Advanced standard during the 2012-2013 through 2015-2016 school years were determined. In each of these four school years, the percentage of students in special education who received Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placement and had Unsatisfactory Standard performance on the STAAR Reading exam consistently increased for all grades except for Grade 4. The percentage of students who had Phase-In Satisfactory Standard performance on the STAAR Reading exam consistently decreased for all grades except for Grade 4. The percentages of students who had Satisfactory and Advanced Standard performance remained consistent across the four school years, never varying more than 7%. Recommendations for research and implications are discussed along with suggestions for policy and practice.

ACHIEVEMENT OF CHILDREN IN AN ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMME FOR REFUGEE, STATELESS AND UNDOCUMENTED CHILDREN IN SABAH, MALAYSIA

Access to formal education is an arduous and difficult process for undocumented and stateless children with entry into government schools often hindered by their status and prevailing national policies and procedures. The Alternative Education Programme (AEP) is structured as a response for the need to provide some form of schooling for children under this classification. This study investigated students’ attainment in the AEP curriculum at Murni Alternative Education Centre (MAEC). A questionnaire, which incorporated a proxy pre-test, measured the achievement of children pre and post-participation in the MAEC learning among 136 female and 113 male learners with the mean age being 10.17 years. Achievement of the intended outcomes of the MAEC curriculum was investigated using Rasch Analysis. Achievement of MAEC objectives was demonstrated in the five curriculum components. In Literacy and Numeracy, item difficulty of reading, speaking, writing and counting showed significant decreases. In Religious Practice, a slight improvement was found with learners able to read the Quran and perform Islamic obligations and acts of worship. For Civics and Citizenship, increase in awareness and appreciation of Malaysian nationhood was ascertained with almost all children identifying themselves as ‘Malaysians’. Improvement in Self-Management was also demonstrated through increased awareness of personal hygiene and well-being except in the matter of environment upkeep. For Living Skills, the majority concurred that MAEC learning equipped them with skills to generate income. These insights into the MAEC learning outcomes from the perspectives of learners themselves could serve as guidelines towards any restructuring of AEP curriculum in MAEC in particular, and Sabah in general. 
 
 Keywords: Alternative education programme, alternative learning centre, curriculum evaluation, Rasch analysis, undocumented children
 
 Cite as: Pang, V., Ling, M. T., & Tibok, R. P. (2019). Achievement of children in an alternative education programme for refugee, stateless and undocumented children in Sabah, Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(2), 335-361. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss2pp335-361

New Channels and Ways of Delivering Public Services in Pre-school Education Institutions

New Channels and Ways of Delivering Public Services in Pre-school Education Institutions

Alternative Education Programs for High School Age Students in Chile

The provision of “alternative” education is increasingly common in the countries of the world, but highly varied in its forms and coverage. In its commitment to provide education for all to age 18, Chile recently expanded its system of schools for teenage dropouts and has funded research on how best to educate these youth. This article, based on data from a national sample of 18 recently established Second Opportunity Centers, describes student characteristics, their ambitions for their education and future, and their evaluation of their experience to date. Using a review of principally North American research findings as a guide, the study analyzes factors linked with grade repetition and withdrawal from school to suggest strategies that may be effective in increasing retention of students. This article concludes that, given multiple causes of school failure, reintegration into the education system requires multiple strategies.

Making Positive Changes Counseling (MPCC) Program: A Creative Adaptation of Motivational Interviewing for Use with Children in School Settings

ABSTRACTMotivational Interviewing (MI)-based counseling can be creatively adapted for working with elementary school students in disciplinary alternative education program (DAEP) settings. The purpose of this article is to describe the implementation of MI with elementary-aged students in the DAEP. The Making Positive Changes Counseling (MPCC) program is a six-session program, which addresses children’s readiness for change, exploration of values and goals and current behaviors, recognition of personal strengths, perspective taking, recognition for possible changes, and effective decision making. The program is an adaptation of the standardized MI approach utilizing visuals and age-appropriate materials that are easily adaptable to individualized (or even group) guidance format.