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Zero Tolerance Policies and Alternative Education: Where Do We Go from Here?
Unformatted Document Text:  14 students expelled and where they end up (i.e. alternative school, alternative program, juvenile delinquency program, on the streets, etc.). But, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of Education’s “Student Exclusion in Massachusetts Public Schools: 1998-1999” states, “There was an overall decline in the number of both regular education students and special education students that were provided with alternative services. Sixty-five percent of all students who were excluded from school were provided with alternative education, a decrease of two percentage points from the 1997-1998 school year. Among regular education students, fifty-six percent were provided with alternative education, a decrease of two percentage points from the previous year. For those students who were excluded who were provided with alternative education, fifty seven percent attended in-district alternative programs and twenty-six percent were provided with home tutoring. In the sixty percent of the 467 cases where students were not provided with alternative education, schools chose not to provide it, which is a decline of ten percent from the prior year, and down fifteen percent from the 1996-1997 school year” (MA DOE Report, 3). The question is clear: What happens to the 44% of regular education students who do not receive some type of alternative once they are suspended or expelled? We will return to this question at the conclusion of the paper, but will now take a closer look at the alternative education programs and schools that are provided to the “fortunate” few and discuss their effectiveness or lack of effectiveness. Development of Alternative Education Schools and Programs Alternative schools emerged in the 1960’s and 1970’s as ‘idealistic havens’ for students who for some reason were not making it in their conventional school. The philosophical tendency at the time was to fault ‘the system’ for not meeting the needs of the students, rather than to blame the students for their failure to conform to the system (which is the

Authors: Free, Janese.
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students expelled and where they end up (i.e. alternative school, alternative program,
juvenile delinquency program, on the streets, etc.). But, the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts’ Department of Education’s “Student Exclusion in Massachusetts Public
Schools: 1998-1999” states,
“There was an overall decline in the number of both regular education
students and special education students that were provided with alternative
services. Sixty-five percent of all students who were excluded from
school were provided with alternative education, a decrease of two
percentage points from the 1997-1998 school year.

Among regular education students, fifty-six percent were provided with
alternative education, a decrease of two percentage points from the
previous year. For those students who were excluded who were provided
with alternative education, fifty seven percent attended in-district
alternative programs and twenty-six percent were provided with home
tutoring. In the sixty percent of the 467 cases where students were not
provided with alternative education, schools chose not to provide it, which
is a decline of ten percent from the prior year, and down fifteen percent
from the 1996-1997 school year” (MA DOE Report, 3).
The question is clear: What happens to the 44% of regular education students who do not
receive some type of alternative once they are suspended or expelled? We will return to
this question at the conclusion of the paper, but will now take a closer look at the
alternative education programs and schools that are provided to the “fortunate” few and
discuss their effectiveness or lack of effectiveness.
Development of Alternative Education Schools and Programs
Alternative schools emerged in the 1960’s and 1970’s as ‘idealistic havens’ for students
who for some reason were not making it in their conventional school. The philosophical
tendency at the time was to fault ‘the system’ for not meeting the needs of the students,
rather than to blame the students for their failure to conform to the system (which is the


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