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Article Title
Thoughts from the Margins: A Five-Year Longitudinal Exploration with Former Alternative Education Youth
Abstract
This longitudinal case study explores the evolving identity constructions and schooling perspectives of former alternative education program members, at an early stage of their adult lives. Using a critical sociocultural lens and in-depth semi-structured interviews, I revisited three young women, five years after their participation in research I had previously undertaken in a middle school, alternative program. This current effort provides individual participant profiles detailing the present life circumstances and thinking of each participant, along with brief middle school recaps and five-year interval updates. This work illustrates its participants’ evolving perspectives on selves and schooling and their present recognition of a critically important caring element in their former program. Its resulting implications highlight the influence of social and institutional practices to determinations made by, and about, youth, and imply a need for their continual reassessment. Additionally, this study addresses a call in the literature for longitudinal efforts to determine the long-term effects of alternative education programs and advocates for an inclusion of the voices of marginalized youth in measures towards reform.
Keywords
Alternative Education, At-Risk Students, Identity Construction, Longitudinal Case Study, Caring Education, Social Practices
Publication Date
4-7-2018
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
DOI
10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3256
Recommended APA Citation
Harnischfeger, A. M. (2018). Thoughts from the Margins: A Five-Year Longitudinal Exploration with Former Alternative Education Youth. The Qualitative Report, 23(4), 801-822. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3256
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