Abstract
This paper documents the hopes, desires and structural betrayals experienced by young people attending transfer schools in New York City. Transfer schools enroll more than 15,000 students each year who are disproportionately young people of color, poor and working-class youth, from immigrant families, and youth with disabilities. Most have fallen behind on academic benchmarks. Many have been systematically pushed out of school through zero tolerance policies, high stakes testing cultures, and a lack of culturally relevant approaches to curriculum and pedagogy. This paper explores survey responses from 842 transfer school students, collected as part of a broader participatory action research study. Our analysis reveals that many transfer school students persist in the face of multiple obstacles that disrupt their educational progress, including material insecurity, previously alienating school experiences, housing insecurity, violence and struggles with mental health. Moreover, we find that students experience the transfer schools in this study as relationally rich, caring, intellectually rigorous, and mutually accountable learning communities that help them overcome obstacles that previously held them back. Our analysis confirms transfer school students’ desires and persistence in the face of adversity and demonstrates the academic and socio-emotional commitments and impact of educators and counselors in transfer schools. Under current federal and state accountability frameworks, transfer schools are threatened by one-size-fits all metrics, punitive policies, and racialized austerity. As such, their importance and impact is consistently mismeasured and under-acknowledged. In this paper, we present evidence that these schools represent the radical rim of what is possible in public education, and we argue that we must support their efforts, honor their commitments, and establish a more equitable system for evaluating the essential work they do.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antrop-Gonzalez, R. (2011). Schools as radical sanctuaries: Decolonizing urban education through the eyes of youth of color. Issues in the Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice of Urban Education. Information Age Publishing.
Arteaga, N. (2020). The racialized pushout of black and latinx students into alternative schools [Ph.D., University of California, Riverside]. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2457329323/abstract/2E762120AB1C4FCAPQ/1.
Atwell, M., Balfanz, R., Byrnes, V., & Bridgeland, J. M. (2023). Grad nation: Building a grad nation, progress and challenge in raising high school graduation rates, 2022–2023 Annual Update. http://jhir.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/68185.
Au, W. (2009). Unequal by design: High-stakes testing and the standardization of inequality. Routledge.
Baum-Tuccillo, M., Arora, V., Holstein, A., & Fine, M. (2020). And still they rise: Lessons from students in New York City’s alternative transfer high schools. The Public Science Project. CUNY Academic Works (974). https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_pubs/974/.
Baum-Tuccillo, M., Varnica, A., Evin, O., Rodriguez, C., & Fine, M. (2022). Threaten to close? Alternative schools of dignity, recognition, and transformation under constant neoliberal assault. In D. J. Irby, C. Anderson, & C. M. Payne (Eds.), Dignity-affirming education: Cultivating the somebodiness of students and educators. Teachers College.
Borck, C. R. (2015). The myth of the unteachable: Youth, race and the capacity of alternative pedagogy [Doctoral Dissertation, City University of New York]. CUNY Academic Works https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1528&context=gc_etds
Borck, C. R. (2019). I belong here.: Culturally sustaining pedagogical praxes from an alternative high school in Brooklyn. The Urban Review, 52(2), 376–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-019-00536-z.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? Qualitative Research in Psychology, 18(3), 328–352. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12360.
Burns, A. (2004). The racing of capability and culpability in desegregated schools: Discourses of merit and responsibility. Off white: Readings on power, privilege and resistance (pp. 373–394). Routledge.
Burt, J. (2014). From zero-tolerance to compassion: Addressing the needs of girls caught in the school-to-prison pipeline through school-based mental health services. Georgetown Journal of Law and Modern Critical Race Perspectives 97(6).
Cahill, M., Lynch, J. E., & Hamilton (2006). New York City Department of Education multiple pathways strategy: Summary findings. Presentation to the New York State Regents and Commissioner, State Education Department. http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/B5EC6D1C-F88A-46108F0F-A14D63420115/0/FindingsofOMPG.pdf.
Caraballo, L., Lozenski, B. D., Lyiscott, J. J., & Morrell, E. (2017). YPAR and critical epistemologies: Rethinking education research. Review of Research in Education, 41(1), 311–336.
Carver, P. R., Lewis, L., & Tice, P. (2010). Alternative schools and programs for public school students at risk of educational failure: 2007-08. First Look. NCES 2010-026. National Center for Education Statistics. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED508882.
Collins, S. E. (2016). Student perspectives on meaningful adult relationships in a transfer school. [Doctoral Dissertation, City University of New York] CUNY Academic Works. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1307.
Conley, B. E. (2002). Alternative schools: A reference handbook. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Covarrubias, A., Nava, P. E., Lara, A., Burciaga, R., Vélez, V. N., & Solorzano, D. G. (2018). Critical race quantitative intersections: A testimonio analysis. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(2), 253–273. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2017.1377412.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2007). Race, inequality and educational accountability: The irony of ‘No Child Left Behind’. Race Ethnicity and Education, 10(3), 245–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320701503207.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2018). Education and The Path to One Nation, Indivisible. Learning Policy Institute. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED606614.
Disare, M. (2017, June 8). Will you close my school? Transfer school staff, parents and students worry about the new federal education law. Chalkbeat. https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2017/6/8/21103472/will-you-close-my-school-transfer-school-staff-parents-and-students-worry-about-the-new-federal-educ/.
Dunning-Lozano, J. L. (2016). Race and opportunity in a public alternative school. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(2), 433–460. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2014.911163.
Edgar-Smith, S., & Palmer, R. B. (2015). Building supportive school environments for alternative education youth. Preventing School Failure, 59(3), 134–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2013.865587.
Evans, G. W., & Schamberg, M. A. (2009). Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory. Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences, 106(16), 6545–6549. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811910106.
Ewing, E. L., Davis, B., & Guz, S. (2023). I hope I make it: Alternative school students’ attendance and the need for an expanded accountability. Urban Education, 58(6), 1383–1414. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859211027618.
Fabricant, M., & Fine, M. (2015). Changing politics of education: Privatization and the dispossessed lives left behind (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315635606.
Fine, M., & Ruglis, J. (2009). Circuits and consequences of dispossession: The racialized realignment of the public sphere for US youth. Transforming Anthropology, 17(1), 20–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-7466.2009.01037.x.
Fine, M., & Torre, M. E. (2021). Essentials of critical participatory action research. American Psychological Association.
Fine, M., & Torre, M. E. (2019). Critical participatory action research: A feminist project for validity and solidarity. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 43(4), 433–444. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684319865255.
Fine, M., Torre, M. E., Oswald, A. G., & Avory, S. (2021). Critical participatory action research: Methods and praxis for intersectional knowledge production. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 68(3), 344. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000445.
Finesurrey, S., De Dios, I., Eusebio, A., Harvey, A., Houck-Loomis, V., Mosquera, A., Narine, A., Santiago, N., Solomon, B., Vargas, J., Curiel, Z., Lopez, J., Rosario, E., Vesterberg, T., & Ruiz, A. (2024). [Forthcoming]. Critical socio-emotional inquiry: A longitudinal oral history project led by middle school students on socio-emotional eell-being. Middle School Journal.
Finesurrey, S., Fine, M., Lester, C., & King, S. (2021). Just inquiry rooted in critical care. In V. Vasudevan, N. Gross, P. Nagarajan, & K. Clonan-Roy (Eds.), Complicating Qualitative Research in School Settings in The United States: Critical Care-Based Methodologies. Bloomsbury.
Fresques, H., & Vogell, H. (2017). ‘Alternative’ education: Using charter schools to hide dropouts and game the system. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/alternative-education-using-charter-schools-hide-dropouts-and-game-system.
Fruchter, N., & Mokhtar-Ross, C. (2023). Recuperation and innovation: New York City’s transfer high schools. Voices in Urban Education, 52(1). https://doi.org/10.35240/vue.95. Article 1.
Gillborn, D., Warmington, P., & Demack, S. (2018). QuantCrit: Education, policy, ‘Big Data’ and principles for a critical race theory of statistics. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(2), 158–179. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2017.1377417.
Glassett, S. (2012, April). Caring is not enough: A critical systematic review of recent research on alternative education [Conference paper] Annual Meeting of American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, Canada. https://www.academia.edu/download/11592479/SGlassett2011AERAcaringpaperfinal.pdf.
Hall, S., & Massey, D. (2010). Interpreting the crisis: Doreen Massey and Stuart Hall discuss ways of understanding the current crisis. Soundings, 44, 57.
Harding, S. (1992). After the neutrality ideal: Science, politics, and strong objectivity. Social Research, 59(3), 567–587. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40970706.
Hill, K., & Mirakhur, Z. (2018). Persisting students: Exploring the pathways and outcomes of students who don’t graduate in four years, but remain enrolled in NYC high schools. Research Alliance for New York City Schools. https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/research-alliance/research/publications/persisting-students.
Jackson, I., & Ransom, J. C. (2022). Do they really care? A critical race theory analysis of culturally relevant caring for black male students. The Urban Review, 54(4), 531–553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-021-00627-w.
Jeffries, R. B., Hollowell, M., & Powell, T. (2004). Urban American Indian students in a nonpunitive alternative high school. American Secondary Education, 32(2), 63–78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41064513.
Jimenez, L., Rothman, M., Roth, E., & Sargrad, S. (2018). Blueprint for Accountability Systems for Alternative High Schools. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/blueprint-accountability-systems-alternative-high-schools/.
Kim, J. (2011). Narrative inquiry into (re)imagining alternative schools: A case study of Kevin Gonzales. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 24(1), 77–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390903468321.
Kim, J. H., & Taylor, K. A. (2008). Rethinking alternative education to break the cycle of educational inequality and inequity. The Journal of Educational Research, 101(4), 207–219. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOER.101.4.207-219.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X035007003.
Lea, I. I. I., Malorni, C. H., A., & Jones, T. M. (2019). Everybody is an artist: Arts-based education and formerly incarcerated young black men’s academic and social–emotional development in an alternative school. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(3–4), 333–347. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12378.
Lipman, P. (2004). High stakes education: Inequality, globalization, and urban school reform. Psychology.
Maria, A., Holstein, A., & Wolcott, A. (2022). How they thrive: Lessons from New York City alternative school alumni. Eskolta School Research and Design.
McEwen, C. A. (2022). Connecting the biology of stress, allostatic load and epigenetics to social structures and processes. Neurobiology of Stress, 17, 100426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100426.
McNulty, C. P., & Roseboro, D. L. (2009). I’m not really that bad: Alternative school students, stigma, and identity politics. Equity & Excellence in Education, 42(4), 412–427. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665680903266520.
National Center for Educational Statistics (2024). Percentage of high school dropouts among persons 16 to 24 years old (status dropout rate), by sex and race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1960 through 2022. Digest of Education Statistics: National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d23/tables/dt23_219.70.asp.
New York State Education Department (2020). Understanding the New York State accountability system under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for 2019-20 Accountability Statuses Based on 2018-19 Results. https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/accountability/how-accountability-works_20200211_final.pdf.
New York State Office of Mental Health (2023). Youth Mental Health Listening Tour Report. New York State Office of Mental Health. https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/statistics/youth-mh-listening-tour-report.pdf.
Newton, X. A., Lohmeier, J. H., Thompson, S. R., Oh, B., Dmello, J. R., & Trainor, A. (2022). Rethinking alternative education accountability indicators: A multilevel and contextual perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 34(4), 455–489. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21358.
O’Gorman, E., Salmon, N., & Murphy, C. A. (2016). Schools as sanctuaries: A systematic review of contextual factors which contribute to student retention in alternative education. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(5), 536–551. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2015.1095251.
Perzigian, A. (2018). Social competence in urban alternative schools. Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 15(1). https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1194401.
Raywid, M. A. (1995). Alternative schools: The state of the art. Educational Leadership, 52(1), 26–31.
Robinson, D. W. (1973). Alternative schools: Do they promise system reform? Phi Delta Kappan, 54(7), 433–443.
Roy, A. (2020, April 3). ‘The pandemic is a portal’. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca.
Ruglis, J., & Freudenberg, N. (2010). Toward a healthy high schools movement: Strategies for mobilizing public health for educational reform. American Journal of Public Health, 100(9), 1565–1570. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.186619.
Schwab, J. R., Johnson, Z. G., Ansley, B. M., Houchins, D. E., & Varjas, K. (2016). A literature review of alternative school academic interventions for students with and without disabilities. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 60(3), 194–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2015.1067874.
Selman, K. J. (2017). Imprisoning ‘those’ kids: Neoliberal logics and the disciplinary alternative school. Youth Justice, 17(3), 213–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225417712607.
Shange, S. (2019). Progressive dystopia: Abolition, anthropology, and race in the new San Francisco. Duke University Press.
Shedd, C. (2015). Unequal city: Race, schools, and perceptions of injustice. Russell Sage Foundation.
Slaten, C. D., Zalzala, A., Elison, Z. M., Tate, K. A., & Wachter Morris, C. A. (2016). Person-centered educational practices in an urban alternative high school: The Black male perspective. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 15(1), 19–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2016.1139501.
Sznitman, S. R., Reisel, L., & Romer, D. (2011). The neglected role of adolescent emotional eell-being in national educational achievement: Bridging the gap between education and mental health policies. Journal of Adolescent Health, 48(2), 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.06.013.
Torre, M. E., Stoudt, B. G., Maoff, E., & Fine, M. (2017). Critical participatory action research on state violence: Bearing wit (h) ness across fault lines of power, privilege, and dispossession. Handbook of Qualitative Research (5th ed., pp. 492–515). SAGE.
Watson, W., Sealey-Ruiz, Y., & Jackson, I. (2016). Daring to care: The role of culturally relevant care in mentoring Black and Latino male high school students. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(5), 980–1002. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2014.911169.
Wilkerson, K. L., Afacan, K., Perzigian, A. B., Courtright, M. R., & Lange, L. E. (2018). Alternative and traditional high school enrollment: An analysis of one urban district. Journal of At-Risk Issues, 21(2), 13–19.
Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.722805.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Baum-Tuccillo, M., Arora, V. & Fine, M. “I’d Say, Transfer Schools are Revolutionary”: Alternative Schools as Revolutionary Spaces Under Assault. Urban Rev (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-024-00693-w
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-024-00693-w