Resilience through Adversity: A narrative case study of students' experiences of expulsion from school

Expulsion from school is life changing. This single event can alter the trajectory of a student's life--for better or for worse. How life changes is unique for each individual student. Risk and protective factors that impact an individual student's resilience determine the level of positive or negative outcomes experienced as a result of expulsion. Educators have the opportunity to take advantage of this disruption in students' education to improve the trajectory of students' lives. However, without thoughtful intervention from caring educators, this interruption in students' education may have an irreparable destructive impact on students' future. The purpose of this study was to understand the expulsion experience from the point of view of the student in order to represent this critical stakeholder group in future policy and program development, implementation, and decision-making. Students' narratives are a means for members of the educational community to access students' experiences and perceptions in order to understand the impact of expulsion on students' lives. Students' perspectives are presented through thick description in this narrative case study. The experience of these eight students is evidence that expulsion can change students' lives in a positive way. Knowing this, responsible educators must develop interventions for expelled students that channel the positive life-changing potential of this experience. Educators must develop interventions focused on bringing forth protective factors that are documented to increase resilience and to make students less susceptible to the risks inherent in removing them from school. Recommendations for educators and policy-makers are presented to assist educators in preventing expulsion and improving educational and socio-emotional outcomes for expelled students.

The Museum/School Partnership: A New Role for Art Museums in K-5 Art Education

For nearly thirty years, the arts have been poorly represented in public school classrooms due to tight budgets, state mandates, and a belief that the arts are not essential to education. In this paper, I will investigate the absence of focused art education curriculum in K-5 classrooms across the United States’ public school system, explain the advantages of reinstating art as a basic subject in the classroom curriculum, and advocate for a more active art museum role in public school elementary art education. The art museum may be in the ideal position to help develop and facilitate programming in K-5 classrooms. By placing teams of art museum professionals in public school classrooms, art museums can establish a prominent role in the museum/school relationship and can help ensure that children have adequate access to art education. The outcome would be children who have greater academic and personal successes throughout their lives.