One size doesn't fit all: when "more of the same" will not work, educational alternatives promote student engagement and ward off failure.

In this era of high stakes testing, what is the role for educational alternatives? School districts are required to provide supplemental instruction (such as summer school and before- and after-school programs) to students at risk of retention or at risk of not passing the California High School Exit Exam. Other interventions are available in the classroom and in the traditional school setting.

But sometimes students who have fallen significantly behind their grade-level peers need more assistance, or a different kind of assistance, than can be provided through these interventions. Properly designed and supported educational alternatives can provide this assistance.

Educational alternatives cover a very wide range of diverse schools and programs. Structurally, educational alternatives can be separate schools, or they can be programs, learning centers or "schools within a school" where students continue to be enrolled in their home school.

Educational alternatives can also encompass instructional strategies, such as independent study. Some students choose educational alternatives for the long term, and other students select alternatives only to get through a particularly difficult period, or until they make up ground they have missed and can rejoin classmates in a traditional classroom.

Finally, while some alternatives serve primarily students who have fallen behind in traditional schools, others serve a range of students and simply offer a different approach compared to traditional classrooms.

Recovery: alternatives aimed at students who have fallen behind

While research on the subject is ongoing, there is evidence that dropout rates are increasing in some states and districts that have implemented tests for graduation (Stipek, 2002; Orfield and Wald, 2001). Students who have fallen far behind may feel there is no point in continuing. Thinking that they have no chance to pass the High School Exit Exam and no chance to receive a diploma, these students may ask, "Why stay in school?"

Younger students who experience repeated failures may also stop putting sufficient effort into trying to learn, and fall further and further behind their classmates.

How can educational alternatives be an attractive option to giving up or dropping out? Professor Mary Anne Raywid gives this answer:

"If I were advising a superintendent or group of teachers on what to do with students who are not successful in school, the first thing I'd try to do is convince them to stop beating their heads against the wall. More of the same ... will not work.... Intensifying efforts that have repeatedly failed is not a route to success. However, the necessary first step toward success is not very complicated: it lies in simply recognizing that, when it comes to schools, one size cannot possibly fit all. Thus, if a student has demonstrated she's not going to make it in one kind of school, we should let her try another. And it can't reasonably be another that is essentially the same as the one she left. Let her try a different kind of school" (Raywid, 2001).

Besides not being "more of the same," there are other important qualities found in the most effective alternatives. Raywid continues by noting, "This combination of elements that research has collectively verified as the formula for `good education' -- small, personalized schools; offering authentic learning and producing student engagement -- is essential if we are serious about enabling unsuccessful youngsters to become successful" (Raywid, 2001).

Finding the resources

Because all of these elements cost money, experience shows that alternatives succeed only to the point that district and school leadership fully support them with adequate resources. In particular, effective alternatives are those where funding follows the student who moves to an educational alternative. District and school administrators olden demonstrate creativity and entrepreneurship to secure additional resources.

Other resources that alternatives have successfully tapped into include:

* state funding for Opportunity Education in grades seven through nine (see below), and grant programs such as Healthy Start and Dropout Prevention;

* creative use of part-time retired teachers and college student tutors on an hourly or volunteer basis, and after-hours teacher specialists on an hourly basis; and

* grants from foundations and in-kind support from businesses in the community.

Alternative models

There are many alternative models for students at risk of dropping out. Some of these are for students with behavioral as well as academic problems, including community day schools at both district and county levels, county community schools and county court schools. There are also some charter schools established to serve this population of students.

Other alternatives for students at risk of dropping out include:

* Opportunity education classes and schools that can serve students in grades one though 12, established by Education Code sections 48630 -- 48641. Although this model can be used for all grades, the state currently provides incentive funding of more than $500 per ADA only for grades seven through nine. (It is notable that available funding has exceeded demand for several years.)

Opportunity education offers multiple attractive features, including the means to focus temporarily on behavior modification, and avoidance of obligatory hourly movement to another class and different group of students with a different teacher. Opportunity education should not be viewed as a permanent placement, but as a short-term intervention to ensure that students will succeed when they return to their classrooms.

* Transitional ninth-grade academies structured as either a school within a school or a stand-alone school for students who cannot be promoted to ninth grade because they have failed too many eighth-grade subjects or scored too poorly on standardized tests. These are relatively new institutions that typically feature blocks of remedial English and math.

Depending on design, the academies provide either a second eighth-grade year, or allow students to move on to 10th grade if they have made sufficient progress. Remedial classes can be offered for elective credit, so that when students enter 10th grade they are not credit deficient, but will have to make up required courses before graduation. These academies may offer intensive counseling services and study skills classes. Long Beach USD has pioneered two different models.

* Independent study, a flexible instructional strategy that can be offered in a comprehensive school or an alternative school, to accommodate students through grade 12 on a voluntary basis. This strategy will work well for some, but certainly not all, students who have fallen behind.

A thorough assessment of each student's motivation and capacity to work independently under the "general" supervision of a credentialed teacher needs to be made before a student is accepted for independent study. Even motivated students who have fallen behind will almost surely need additional assistance in the form of access to group tutoring sessions, computer-assisted learning, math and reading labs, counseling and ongoing assessment services.

Sweetwater Union HSD has established Learning Centers in all 11 of its comprehensive high schools using independent study in conjunction with group lessons, computer labs, curriculum innovation and increased counseling resources. Venture School in San Ramon Valley USD is an alternative school that is open to all levels of students (although it has had long waiting lists for many years) and offers independent study with three levels of difficulty for all subjects -- advanced, regular and remedial.

* Alternative schools that offer a different approach to match the needs of students who have not been successful in traditional schools. Examples include Middle College High Schools operated in conjunction with community colleges (see Education Code section 11300-113010) and career academies. These schools may be able to offer remedial assistance as well as ignite the student's interest because of their special focus.

* Continuation education, providing classes and schools that serve 16- to 18-year-olds. Today, continuation education encompasses a diverse range of schools, from those that deal primarily with students who are credit deficient to those that are simply a smaller and more flexible alternative to the larger comprehensive high schools in the district.

Prevention: Schools and programs "of choice"

Some alternatives are not explicitly aimed at at-risk students, but simply offer different approaches compared to traditional classrooms. Districts provide these kinds of educational alternatives in recognition that some students thrive in different environments.

Some educational alternatives respond to differing learning styles (classes with open or structured environments, or experience-based learning, for example); some respond to different aptitudes and interests (magnet schools for the performing arts or math and science, or Specialized Secondary Programs); and some respond to different student needs (the need for a smaller learning community or the need to work at their own pace).

These schools and programs of choice may serve a normal distribution of students, or they may cater to students who are gifted or who are especially interested and talented in certain subject areas.

Prerequisites for learning

We mention these alternative schools and programs of choice because they can play a preventative role in the high-stakes testing environment. The literature on student motivation and engagement underscores critical prerequisites for engagement in learning that include:

* educational alternatives and options that match diverse student needs, interests and learning styles;

* opportunities for students to engage in active and collaborative learning experiences; and

* instruction that is appropriately linked to students' current skills and understanding -- it is challenging but it can be mastered (Stipek, 2002).

Students with a variety of options, whether within the traditional schools or in addition to them, stand a greater chance of finding an educational setting and approach that matches their individual needs, and becoming engaged learners. They also stand to benefit by exercising choice and feeling more control and ownership of their education.

One size doesn't fit all

There are many reasons, of course, why students become disengaged from school and fall behind in the first place, and often these are outside the control of schools and/or require the intervention of counselors and other student support services. But if schools provide a match between student needs and the educational environment, more students will achieve their full potential, and fewer students will become disengaged and fall behind.

Because "one size doesn't fit all," where districts have provided properly designed and supported educational options, they have done much to promote student engagement and to ward off avoidable failure (Stipek, 1998).

Establishing new alternative schools and programs

State law mandates that districts provide alternatives (see Education Code section 51225.3(b) and related sections 52000(e) and 58501). Districts that are considering establishing new alternatives may wish to consult Education Code sections 58500 to 58512.

For schools, including "separate class groups within a school" established under these provisions, districts can seek from the superintendent of public instruction a waiver of any part of the Education Code except provisions related to seismic safety. Schools formed under Education Code 58500 et seq. have requested a wide variety of waivers.

For example, districts have received waivers from provisions of Proposition 227 for dual immersion bilingual schools, and from instructional minutes requirements to provide teachers with increased time for collaboration and students with increased time for community-based learning.

This law predates charter schools legislation by many years, but "58500 schools" have some of the most important advantages of charter status.

Engaged learners flourish

For students who have fallen far behind in traditional schools, educational alternatives can offer both remediation and re-engagement in learning. For other students who are not thriving in the traditional system, educational alternatives can provide an option that more closely matches their particular needs, interests, learning styles and levels of educational readiness -- an option that increases the likelihood they will become engaged in learning.

When available, properly designed and supported educational alternatives can enable students who were just getting by to flourish, and enable students who were failing to succeed.

References

Orfield, Gary and Wald, Johanna. (April 29, 2001). "High Stakes Testing." In Motion Magazine.

Raywid, Mary Anne. (April 2001). "What to Do with Students Who Are Not Succeeding." Phi Delta Kappan.

Stipek, Deborah. (Correspondence dated Jan. 21 and Feb. 25, 2002). Dean of the School of Education, Stanford University.

Stipek, Deborah. (1998). Motivation to Learn: From Theory to Practice, 3rd edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

RELATED ARTICLE: Elements of alternative education.

What can alternatives offer at-risk students that traditional schools typically can't or don't provide? Some of the most important elements include:

* Individualized learning. This includes diagnostic tests to determine specific gaps in learning; materials at the appropriate ability and age level, keyed to filling in gaps in student learning (often including self-paced, computer-assisted instruction); and the flexibility to allow students to work at their own pace.

* Smaller learning communities and lower student-teacher ratios. These foster an increased sense of social connection and belonging, connection with at least one caring adult and individualized attention.

* Experienced teachers committed to working with this population of students.

* Increased counseling services to deal with emotional and behavioral issues, and improved access to community social services to deal with issues outside of school that affect students' ability to learn. Often alternatives offer classes in study skills and focus on changing students' low expectations, based on their increasing experiences of competence and success.

Lynn P. Hartzler and Mary Jones are consultants for the Educational Options Office, California Department of Education.