Guiding+Questions+and+Answers


 * Question 1: What is the variety of alternative programs out there? **

According to the Ministry of Education’s 2005, [|Strategies for Student Success], alternative programs fall under 6 broad areas:


 * 1) Credit recovery
 * 2) Alternative education
 * 3) Student success in grade 9 and 10
 * 4) Pathways to apprenticeships and the workplace
 * 5) College connections
 * 6) Success for targeted groups

In the same document they state that “ alternative education programs are designed to re-engage students who have had difficulty succeeding in a traditional classroom or school environment, including students who are returning to school after having dropped out” ([|Strategies for Student Success],2005).Reflecting on the Student Success/Learning to 18 (SS/L18) initiatives that include alternative programs, the [|OSSTF] concedes that the first phase of the SS/L18 programs has allowed 8000 students to earn 14,000 credits ( 2006, p.2).


 * Question 2: How inclusive of exceptionalities are alternative secondary school programs? How do alternative programs balance the ‘self – directed’ nature of programming while also providing appropriate supports? **

While I did find one article in the Canadian context to answer this question, Rutherford and Quinn’s article states that alternative education programs do not meet the needs of exceptional students in the American context. In general, there was a paucity of scholarly research in alternative education programs in Canada as noted by Morrissette ( 2011, p. 170). Clearly there needs to be more Canadian research on alternative school programs generally. More research must also be done for special education in alternative programs since these programs are designed by the Ministry to engage students who struggle in traditional classroom and school settings, which clearly includes exceptional students.


 * Question3: Given that these students are multi-barriered (or ‘at risk’), how do these programs serve as models to public education in general? For example, if equitable use is integral to UDL, how are these programs examples of UDL? **

In the article, //Alternative High School Models for the Future//?, Gay Knutson calls for the expansion of alternative high school models arguing that they are serve as internal sources of innovation within the American public school system ( 1999, p.123). Noting that these alternative high schools are innovative, flexible and primarily focused on “ at- risk youth” who are “ likely to not finish high school”, Knutson further adds that American states and school boards established “separate educational programs” in order to mitigate the “economic loss” associated with dropouts ( 1999, p.119). Therefore it does seem the economic rhetoric for alternative programs in Ontario‘s SS/L18 were previously stated in previous American legislatures.

However, there are still who question if indeed alternative programs are models of change and innovation to mainstream education. In the camp of Richard Sagor and Penny Milton, opponents of alternative programs and schools argue that they merely maintain the mainstream education that ‘at-risk’ youth were failed by. Jay McGee and other alternative proponents disagree, arguing that these programs merely meet the needs of diverse youth by providing a “friendly atmosphere, high degree of student autonomy, and alternative approaches to curriculum” (2001, p. 589).


 * Question 4: How and where does poverty and special education diverge and converge? We know now that identification is a long and expensive project that requires parental commitment, education and money. What happens to those students whose parents aren’t as proactive in having them identified? Do alternative programs take up the mantle of identification? **

From Parekh et al’s examination of eighty five TDSB secondary schools, they found that there was a “significant overrepresentation of low income students receiving special education services” (2011, p.249). And because “ [p]oor and minority students are greatly over-represented in the identification of students with learning and behavioural disabilities” they are “ placed in programs and streams that offer fewer academic opportunities” ( 2011, p.252).

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Indeed in Mercy Addo’s ( 2011) thesis examination of minority students overrepresentation in special education, states that poverty is one of the “ predisposing” factors that makes this population in need special education ( 2011, p. 12, 45). In Addo’s literature review, it was found that (2011, p.12): <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Children from low economic status neighbourhood are more likely to be referred for special education because the schools often lack the necessary resources and skills to deal effectively with the children’s problems in the classroom and hence refer more students for special education services. Again, schools in such areas most likely do not have educational psychologists to carry out effective assessment. Most of these schools lack school counsellors to help good students who might temporally be experiencing problems or need help without being referred for special education services.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Economic stress also negatively impacts the emotional and developmental needs of children because it typically results on an inability to “ provide a stable supportive family due to long working hours” resulting in “ less quality time with their children” or to get involved in their children’s education (2011, p.13). As minority children have the highest poverty rate of Canadian children under fifteen years of age, it is no wonder that they should also be overrepresented in special education ( 2011, p. 46). Citing Currie’s 2005 study of health disparities and gaps in school readiness, Addo notes that children from lower economic backgrounds were found to have (2011, p. 46): <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> more physical health problems such as obesity and asthma, mental health problems such as depression and anxiety, and behavioural problems such as ADHD and antisocial disorder[s] compared to their middle-or upper-class peers.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">While Addo is careful to note that “ poverty itself does not cause special education placement or referral”, there are predisposing conditions that making learning difficult for these children such as “a lack of reading materials” (2011, p.49-50). For example, poor housing conditions such as “lead poisoning”, “noise volume” and cramped quarters can lead to asthma, low IQ , socio-emotional problems and a whole host of other learning issues (2011, p. 50). <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Overall, the best “correlate of early school leaving is socioeconomic status andparental social class” meaning that “[s]tudents from lower SES backgrounds are much more likely to leave high school without obtaining a diploma, than are those from higher SES backgrounds” and in “Ontario, working class students predominate in lower, more applied streams while children of professional and privileged families tend to be placed in academic streams” ([|Community Health Systems Resource Group], 2005,p. 61-62). Richard Sagor also notes that “alternative school enrollee are disproportionally drawn from low-income, disabled, and minority communities” (1999, p. 74).

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Finally, given the paucity of research on alternative programs in Canada, I was unable to find research that talked about the process of identifying students in alternative secondary school programs. However since students “who struggle academically are at increased risk of early school leaving”, as are exceptional students, “timely and comprehensive assessments and supports” should always be made available to students ([|Community Health Systems Resource Group], 2005, p. 71).


 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Question 5: How are exceptional students within these alternative programs transitioned into post secondary or adult education? For example, how inclusive is adult education and night schools to exceptionalities? Have they always had to accommodate exceptional students and developed best practices to do? **

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">As stipulated in the [|Individual Education Plan : Resource Guide] ( 2004) document, exceptional students over the age of 14 must have transition plans, unless they are “identified solely as gifted”, from one academic year to the next, from one school to the next and for “post- secondary activities, such as work, further education, and community living” (p. 5,40). Under Regulation 181/98, the “principal shall consult with such community agencies and post –secondary educational institutions as he or she considers appropriate” (2004, p.5).

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In terms of further education such as day and evening courses at universities or colleges, apprenticeships, private vocational schools, and continuing education programs that include adult training/education, it is recommended that these organizations be contacted “ a year in advance of a student’s transition” “ to ensure access for the student to program opportunities ” while allowing “ time for the institution or department to arrange supports needed by the exceptional student” ( [|Transition Planning: A Resource Guide], 2002, p. 15). And “[a]s the date for transition approaches” the institution’s “special needs offices” “can assist by identifying the accommodations that are available to students” (2002, p. 15). However “[o]nce students are admitted, it is the responsibility of the special needs offices to assist them in obtaining accommodations appropriate to their special needs” (2002, p. 15). For instance the Independent Learning Centre, does provide accommodations for identified exceptionalities for many of their programs including their [|GED] program for students eighteen years old or over.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In terms of adult workplace transitions, the student’s“ cooperative education or work experience employer can advise the transition planning team about the accommodations the student requires to work effectively and about additional learning required by the student in order to fulfill employment requirements” (2002, p.15).

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">While these transition plans and recommendations serve as guides for exceptional students under public secondary school’s care, the [|Transition Guide] continually reiterates that individual student self-advocacy is a “ critical [skill] for all students making the transition to further education, work, and independent living” ( 2002, p.22). Because once graduated, whether at twenty-one or eighteen years of age, it clear that these students are no longer the responsibility nor under the care of local school boards or teachers.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Summary of Findings

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Reflections

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">New Goals

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Implementation Plan

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">References