How Schools alienate Students at Risk
A Model for Examining Proximal Classroom Variables
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8046884 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dona M Kagan (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1990 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 105-125 |
| Publication date | 1990-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Educational Psychologist (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0046-1520 • E-ISSN: 1532-6985 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1207/s15326985ep2502_1 |
| OpenAlex | W2048026679 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 22 |
| References cited | 39 |
Evidence suggests that dropping out of school may be a symptom of institutional rather than individual pathology, and researchers have called for a new cycle of empirical studies designed to identify alienating processes within classrooms and schools. Factors within classrooms and schools transform students at risk into a discrete subculture that is incompatible with academic success. The result is a feeling of estrangement and failure. I designed a research model to determine whether the treatment, behavior, perception, and cognition of at-risk students are significantly different from those of their not-at-risk classmates. A theoretical foundation for this approach is drawn from two sources: (a) labeling theory, and (b) evidence that cognitive activity is interwoven with the environmental context in which it occurs. For an empirical foundation, I review an eclectic body of literature describing chronic low achievers as a distinct student subculture within classrooms. Then I define the research model in greater detail, suggesting variables and types of data that researchers could use to juxtapose the viewpoints of at-risk and not-at-risk classmates. Finally, unique aspects of the model are clarified by analyzing three recent ethnographic student-at-risk studies that also proceed from the assumption that schools (not students) are the primary cause of at-risk status
At-risk students · Empirical evidence · Empirical research · Foundation (evidence · Viewpoints · Early Childhood Education and Development · Education Discipline and Inequality · Youth Substance Use and School Attendance
School as a Context of Early Adolescents' Academic and Social-Emotional Development
The Relationship of School Belonging and Friends' Values to Academic Motivation Among Urban Adolescent Students
The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents
Students' Need for Belonging in the School Community
Social-Emotional Factors Affecting Achievement Outcomes Among Disadvantaged Students
Sense of Belonging to School
The Mediation Role of School Alienation Between Perceptions of the School Atmosphere and School Refusal in Italian Students
Investigating and assessing informal computational thinking in grades K-2
Development and Validation of a Family Environment Checklist for Use in Selecting At-Risk Participants for Innovative Educational Preschool Programs
A Comprehension and Cognitive Development Approach to School Reform
A School that Fosters Resilience in Inner-City Youth
Worlds together…words apart
Dropping out of high school in Cyprus
A critical exploration of the school context for young adolescents completing primary education
Young people's perceptions and experiences of leaving high school early
Improving the Quality of Classroom Instruction for Students at Risk of Failure in Urban Schools
Teacher and parent perceptions of behavior problems among a sample of African American, Hispanic, and non‐Hispanic white studients
The Role of Protective Factors in Supporting the Academic Achievement of Poor African American Students During the Middle School Transition
Classroom Instruction and Learning Environment Differences between Effective and Ineffective Urban Elementary Schools for African American Students
Urban School Reform from a Student-of-Color Perspective
Experimentally Evaluating the Impact of a School-Based African-Centered Emancipatory Intervention on the Ethnic Identity of African American Adolescents
An Experimental Evaluation of a School-Based Emancipatory Intervention to Promote African American Well-Being and Youth Leadership
Reducing Student Alienation in High Schools
Social Competence in Children
Who Drops Out of High School and Why? Findings from a National Study
Why Urban Adolescents Drop into and out of Public High School
High School Dropouts
Dropping Out
Qualitative Research Traditions
Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations
Fortran IV Program for Data Transformations
Prediction of School Failure From Third-Grade Data
Learning Lessons
Schools make a difference
A Population at Risk
Black students' school success
Teachers' judgment of students' potential as a function of teachers' susceptibility to biasing information
Teachers' and Students' Cognitional Knowledge for Classroom Teaching and Learning
Motivational processes affecting learning
The Skill of Learning from Classroom Lessons
Giving Voice to High School Students
Students’ Cognitions and Time on Task During Mathematics Instruction
Influencing Engagement Through Accommodation
The Enhancement Function of Staff Development
Changing Teaching Practices in Mainstream Classrooms to Improve Bonding and Behavior of Low Achievers
An Intensive Group Counseling Dropout Prevention Intervention
Variability in Minority School Performance
Transformation and School Success
Alienation Studies
| Unique citing works | 22 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 1993 - 2025 (33) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 22 |