children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

enrolling students in grades 1-12; a school for
the general normal student population in
which a student may advance toward an elementary
school certificate or a high school
diploma; a school for which there are no special
requirements for enrollment such as having
a severe learning or physical disability,
wanting specialized training, or being detained
for problems with law enforcement officials.
b. Non-regular special school-a public or private
school enrolJing students in grades 1-12;
a school for which there are special requirements
for enrollment such as having a learning
or physical disability, wanting specialized
training, or being detained for problems with
law enforcement officials.
2. Public School-a school which is controlled and
supported chiefly by a local, state, or federal
government agency.
3. Parochial school-a school which is controlled
or supported chiefly by a religious organization
which the child attends instead of a public school.
4. Other Private School-a school which is controIJed
or supported chiefly by private groups
other than religious organizations.
5. Enrollment/Enrolled-for the purposes of this
survey, a student is enroIJed in a school if he is
registered at a school and has attended some
days of the school year. In other words, a student
is enrolled if a regular or non-regular, special
school (public or private) has him on a list
of children enrolled and expects him to attend
school there.
6. Special Program-the term "special program" is
used in reference to both regular school and nonregular,
special school. However, any given type
of special program might exist in a regular but
not a non-regular school or vice versa.
(a) "Special programs" in regular school are for
children who have learning or physical disabilities
which school officials have determined
are serious enough to remove the
children from regular classrooms for the
whole or part of the school day but not
serious enough to prohibit them from enrolling
in the school. The Monitor's Guide
spells out types of problems for which stu-
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dents might be placed in special progr.ams.
Common types of special programs in regular
schools included educable mentally
retarded (EMR) classes, English as a Second
Language (ESL) classes, special reading
classes, speech therapy, classes for
emotionally disturbed, special classes for
gifted and talented children, vocational and
occupational trainjng classes.
(b) "Special programs" in non-regular special
schools are programs to meet the specific
needs of the children who are enrolled in
that school because they have some general
problem in common. Here are a few examples:
( I) A school for physically handicapped
could have the same type of special
programs as found in a regular school
-EMR, ESL, speech therapy, etc.as
well as special programs for children
who are deaf, blind, legs paralyzed,
arms missing, etc.
(2) A school for delinquent children might
have the same types of special programs
found in regular schools.
(3) A school for mentally retarded children
might have special programs for Educable
(EMR) as well as Trainable
Mentally Retarded (TMR), for emotionally
disturbed, Spanish speaking,
etc.
7. Suspensions. Suspensions are one of the most
common disciplinary measures used in schools.
Due process is often denied, hearings, and appeals
are not held, and often no statistical records
are kept to indicate average duration of suspensions
or frequency. A suspension for purposes
of tills study is any temporary exclusion of a
child from school by school officials. Temporary
means anything from one to thirty days.
8. Expulsions. Expulsions are long-term (thirty
days or over, or permanent) exclusion of a child
from school by school officials. The child is
usually not allowed to return to school for the
remainder of the semester or school year. Sometimes
expulsions are labeled "indefinite suspensions."
In such cases a child is allegedly sus-