Carcerality and Education: A Qualitative Focus of Alternative Learning Environments and Racial/Ethnic Minoritized Students

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Whether it is called an alternative, behavioral, juvenile court, or opportunity school, alternative learning environments primarily over enroll Black and Latino/x students across the U.S. This particular category of school enrolls over 800,000 students from California to New York with little oversight due to the wide variations of curricula and students served, expelled students to high-need students with disabilities, causing challenges in state and federal accountability standards. This symposium draws from three different qualitative studies to highlight the unique social and educational experiences of highly minoritized racial and ethnic student populations who attend(ed) alternative learning environments across the U.S.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 1: Education and Place, Space, Time

Chair

• Maritza E. Salazar, Mexican American Opportunity Foundation

Participant

• Charles H. Lea, Columbia University

Papers

• School Reentry: Defining “Success” for Formerly Incarcerated Emerging Adult Black Men in an Alternative School - Charles H. Lea, Columbia University

• “It’s for Bad Kids”: Alternative Schools and the Carceral Continuum - Julissa O. Muñiz, University of California - Los Angeles; Armando Lizarraga, University of Texas at Austin

• From Neighborhood Schools to Juvy: Reflections of Alternative Learning Environments From Former Gang Members - Adrian H. Huerta, University of Southern California

Discussant

• Pedro A. Noguera, University of Southern California