“I Use to Pray and Ask God to Give Me Another Chance”: A Phenomenological Analysis of Black Males’ Journey Attending an Alternative School

Research suggests that there still exists a disproportionate number of Black males who have contact with juvenile justice systems across this nation (Nance, 2016). The disproportionate placement of students of color, specifically, Black American males in alternative schools, serves as the gateway to the school-to-prison-pipeline (Pelzer, 2012). This study examined the lived educational experiences of two Black American juvenile males, who enrolled in an alternative school in the Southeast. This study incorporated phenomenological and narrative methods and provides rich, descriptive analyses of the participants’ experiences while attending an alternative school. Findings from this study revealed instability among the participants’ home life and education, encounters with law enforcement and an early age, varying experiences attending an alternative school, and feelings of uncertain hope displayed by the participants regarding their future lives