Alternative school is any public or private school that differs from traditional schools in curriculum, purpose, or teaching methods. Most alternative schools attempt to establish a less formal relationship between pupils and teachers. They also try to make greater use of community facilities outside the school and to involve parents in the educational process. Alternative schools developed because of dissatisfaction with the quality and aims of traditional schools.
Alternative schools have voluntary enrollments. A typical alternative school has from 30 to 40 students. A school of this size can easily adjust its program to fit individual needs and desires. Some alternative schools work only with children of elementary-school age, and others accept only teenagers. Many alternative schools put students of several ages into classes based on subject interest.
Many alternative schools in the United States operate independently of the public school system. These schools, which are privately run, are usually called free schools. The word free refers to the independence of such schools. It also describes the emphasis of the schools in allowing students to make their own decisions in various matters. Other alternative schools operate as part of the public school system. Such schools may be located in one area of a public school building or in a separate building provided by the school system. The separate buildings are often called magnet schools or specialty schools. They attempt to attract students from a wider attendance area than a traditional neighborhood school.
Features of alternative schools
The basic principle followed by alternative schools is that not all children have the same goals and the same ways of learning. Many of the people involved in operating these schools do not want to convert the whole school system to their methods. They want to provide the opportunity for a different kind of education for children who would benefit from it.
The major feature of many alternative schools is the open space classroom. The teacher of an open space classroom, instead of lecturing most of the time, helps students find interesting ways to learn on their own. Many kinds of educational materials are kept in the classroom. The students work with these materials alone or in groups. The teacher gives the students more individual help than in traditional schools. Time with students has always been an important element in alternative schools.
Most alternative schools lack adequate funds and such facilities as gymnasiums, laboratories, and shops. Parents and volunteers provide most of the finances, help run the classes, and help maintain the buildings.
Many forms of alternative schools have developed in response to various needs. Street academies and dropout centers, which function in the poor sections of big cities, help high school dropouts continue their education. Storefront schools have developed from child-care and kindergarten facilities. Work schools hold classes part of the day, and the students work at regular jobs the rest of the day.
The school without walls plan, used in some large cities, takes advantage of the educational opportunities provided by businesses and institutions of the community. Students may spend part of the day at an artist’s studio, a factory, a museum, a newspaper office, a repair shop, a theater, or a government or private agency. The purpose of this method is to make learning more realistic and enjoyable, and to broaden the experiences offered high school students.
Some alternative schools emphasize the study of the culture and history of a certain minority group. Some accept only students from one such group. Others seek students from several cultures and ethnic groups.
A number of alternative schools have been designed for children from middle- or upper-class families. Usually such schools are in suburban or rural areas. Most of them stress the independence of each student and have no required subjects.
A trend in the development of alternative schools has been the establishment of such schools within the public school system. One plan offers a variety of learning environments from which students, parents, and teachers may choose. At the elementary school level, parents can choose to place their children in a traditional classroom or in one of several kinds of open space classrooms. High school students decide whether to enter a free school with few course requirements, or one of several programs in the regular high school program.
History
Experimental schools similar to alternative schools have been set up throughout the history of public education. But the term alternative school first came into widespread use during the 1960’s. It referred to a wide variety of programs and institutions that differed greatly from private schools and special programs within public schools. Most private schools had been established for the children of wealthy families. Most special programs worked only with students who had special problems or exceptional ability. But most alternative schools welcomed any student.
African Americans in the Southern States set up some of the first alternative schools. During the 1960’s, these people established freedom schools in communities where public schools refused to admit their children based on skin color. In many Northern cities, African Americans set up alternative schools because of dissatisfaction with the treatment of their children in public schools. Other groups, such as Hispanic Americans and American Indians, also set up alternative schools.
Many people began to realize that a public school system could hurt, rather than help, some children. They declared that parents and educators should have the freedom to set up alternative education methods.
During the late 1960’s, several groups began a movement that created open space classrooms modeled on the United Kingdom’s infant schools. Such schools are attended by children from age 5 to 7. In the United States, similar classrooms were set up in a number of public schools. Their success contributed to the growth of the alternative school movement.
See also EdisonLearning, Inc.
