RD56 - Regional Alternative Education Projects


Executive Summary:
The regional alternative education projects were established by the General Assembly in 1993-94 with the intent to involve two or more school divisions working in collaboration to establish options for disruptive students. To complete the 2003 annual report, information was collected and analyzed from the 30 projects based on 2002-03 data. Findings are summarized below:

• Each center has a different approach to providing alternative school settings for students requiring such placement.

• A low pupil-to-teacher ratio is maintained in over 96 percent of the projects.

• Centers offer a wide variety of options for parental involvement but experience the same frustrations that many schools do with levels of parental participation.

• Community involvement is less than optimal in most of the projects.

• Participation in staff development occurs more often in the student service areas than it does in the academic areas and that level of participation in the student service area varies greatly from project to project.

• Staff comments indicated the need to focus on program evaluation in subsequent years.

In their tenth year of operation, the regional alternative education projects continue to provide a positive alternative learning environment for students who have a pending violation of a school board policy, have been expelled or long-term suspended, or who are returning from a juvenile correctional center. In some cases the projects offer students an avenue to an education that would be denied under normal circumstances. The additional state resources provided through this program have helped many students continue their formal education, return to the school of origin, and graduate from high school or earn a General Educational Development (GED) certificate.