Abstract
The effects of an alternative high school program on reading, mathematics, and language achievement and percentage of daily attendance of at-risk students were investigated over a period of eight months. A group of 100 ninth-grade students characterized by their at-risk behaviors was sampled. Fifty students, through random selection, participated in the alternative program and were compared with a control group of equal size that did not receive the treatment. Perceptions of the students who participated in the alternative program enriched the findings of the study. The students represented one high school in Southern California. Posttest ITAS-A total reading, total mathematics, and total language scores were collected for sixty-four students and the number of days of school attendance was collected for sixty-five students. Scores were statistically analyzed by a two-tailed independent t-test for significant differences. Data for the descriptive portion of the research were collected through interviews conducted with eleven students who received the treatment. Significant differences in achievement were indicated in total language scores for at-risk students in the control group. No significant differences in achievement in total reading and language scores or percentage of daily attendance were found between the students who received the treatment and those in the control group. Perceptions of the students who participated in the treatment revealed a positive impact of the treatment on student motivation, self-esteem, and affiliation with the program teachers, other students in the program, and their high school. Major conclusions reached were that the high school alternative program: (1) had limited effect on increasing cognitive skills in reading, mathematics, and language because of the degree of deprivation that had preceded the treatment experience; (2) had positive effects on improving the affective features of student learning such as student motivation, self-esteem, personal power, affiliation; and (3) was more effective in arresting affective deprivation than traditional instructional programs. The high school program investigated is proposed as a model for implementation of alternatives for at-risk youth to other school districts who are interested in restructuring to meet the affective needs of a growing population of students at risk.