The importance of rule fairness: the influence of school bonds on at-risk students in an alternative school

Abstract

Using Hirschi's social bonds theory as a foundation, this study examines the effects of at-risk students' school bonds on their classroom behaviour. In this article, school bonds are defined as the students' attachment to teachers/staff, students' affiliation to the school, students' belief in the fairness of the school rules and students' involvement in school-related activities. The data are from a sample of 77 at-risk students attending an alternative middle school in a small city in the northeastern region of the USA. The findings based on results of a schoolwide survey and students' school records, parallel prior research demonstrate a statistically significant inverse relationship between school bonds (namely the affiliation and the belief bonds) and classroom misconduct. The results of this study reveal the driving force behind reducing classroom misconduct is students' perception of fairness of school rules (as defined by the belief bond).

Examination of the Relative Effects of Neighborhoods and Schools on Juvenile Delinquency: A Multilevel Cross-Classified Model Approach

“…And to what extent? Although previous multilevel research have produced a typical results indicating that most of the variation in delinquency comes from individual differences, followed by neighborhood or school differences (Beeck et al 2012;Bernburg and Thorlindsson 2007;Elliott et al 1996; Fagan and Wright 2012;Free 2014;Gottfredson and DiPietro 2011;Gottfredson et al 2005;Osgood and Anderson 2004;Payne 2008;Sampson et al 2005;Stewart 2003;Welsh et al 1999;Zimmerman 2010;Zimmerman and Rees 2014), no previous multilevel study on adolescent delinquency has directly compared the relative effect of neighborhood and school contexts on delinquency (Kirk 2009). The analyses for the second goal utilizing the cross-classified models study suggest that the effect of neighborhood on delinquency was about two or three times larger than that of school, which is also consistent with previous research findings from cross-classified studies in the field of education (Rasbash and Goldstein 1994;Raudenbush 1993).…”

“…Previous multilevel studies on delinquency, however, have examined the effect of one social context separately from the others; mostly neighborhoods (e.g., Bernburg and Thorlindsson 2007;Elliott et al 1996;Fagan and Wright 2012;Gottfredson, McNeil, and Gottfredson 1991;Peeples and Loeber 1994;Sampson, Morenoff, and Raudenbush 2005;Simcha-Fagan and Schwartz 1986;Zimmerman 2010), or schools (e.g., Beeck, Pauels, and Put 2012;Caspi et al 1993;Felson et al 1994;Free 2014;Gottfredson and DiPietro 2011;Gottfredson et al 2005;Osgood and Anderson 2004;Payne 2008;Stewart 2003;Zimmerman and Rees 2014). 1 Separate examinations of neighborhood-or school-context would limit our understandings about the mutual impact of these different and reciprocal social contexts on delinquency, since most adolescents are embedded simultaneously in both neighborhood and school contexts (Goldstein 2011;Kirk 2009;Raudenbush 2003;Sykes and Musterd 2011).…”

‘We matter just the same’: students and pre-service teachers working together in an alternative educational setting

“…As Free (2014) and Lagana-Riordan et al, 2011 point out, when students experience difficulties in school, they are often symptomatic of greater issues within society and the positive and negative events that students experience in schools shape their views of school, as well as their own belief in themselves to be successful in school (Hayes, 2012). Therefore, in order to serve the needs of all learners, PSTs must have the opportunity to work directly with this student population prior to entering the teaching profession.…”

“…Alternative educational settings serve youth who have disconnected or disengaged from traditional school environments for a number of reasons. These may include leaving public systems, such as welfare or foster care, homelessness, being the children of incarcerated parents, coming from families with limited English capacity, poverty, community stress, lack of adult supervision, family stress and responsibility, learning disabilities, school suspension and expulsion, issues related to drugs and violence, continual academic failure, chronic truancy, and fear for personal safety (Caroleo, 2014;Free, 2014;Lagana-Riordan et al, 2011;The Urban Institute, 2003). What's more, according to The Urban Institute (2003), Black and Hispanic youth were more likely to be identified as disconnected from education, with 14% of Black youth and 13% of Hispanic youth in this category, as compared to 6% of White youth in the United States (p. 2).…”

“Is it Our Job to Teach them to Read or to Act Appropriately?”: Teachers’ and Staff's Perceptions of an Alternative School

“…Even with their positive mission, much debate remains as to whether alternative schools are helping the students who attend them or whether they are further harming them—academically and socially (Cable, Plucker, and Spradlin ). Ideally, these schools serve as a “first step” to students graduating from high school—instead of a “last chance” before dropping out of school and increasing their chances of unemployment, poverty, substance abuse, homelessness, and incarceration (Free ; Lagana‐Riordan et al. ; Tyler and Lofstrom ).…”