A vision for all schools

Although I envision this blog for a lay audience, I am going to venture into school board policy now. The reason is that the answer to "what is an alternative school" is spelled out in a board policy adopted in 2006. The link is here.

This policy was a result of the alternative community getting together and working long and hard to describe what they held in common. It's very general, which I why I hope to flesh it out on this blog with real stories, but I think it's a valid and useful starting point.

Current district leadership is hesitant to really get behind the policy, in part because they say it is what should be the vision for all schools. We say great! We're approaching it in very real and sometimes different ways in our schools; come and see.

The policy, already an abbreviated distillation, can be further collapsed into 5 "bullet-points." I'm going to create 5 posts below to contain our stories that fill out the details.

My own observation is that while you hear some of these ideas on many kindergarten tours at SPS traditional schools, and may actually see some them in a classroom here and there, there will be very different things going on in the class next door. The difference is that in an Alternative school you have the entire school community working together to approach this vision.

I. Complete and personalized education

"Students, families and staff share and support the school’s philosophy, values, practices and mission to educate the "whole" child in a community based on a high degree of personalization. "

This is a thread to discuss how alternative schools are attempting to reach this goal.

II. Shared decision making

"Program design includes a shared decision making model."

This thread will show you what shared decision making looks like.

III. Alternative Assessment

"Utilization of alternative assessment, which meets district requirements, that is tailored to the individual student and avoids grades, marks or labels that compare and stratify students. "

Our ideal is no standardized testing! No self-fulfilling prophecies! Children learning as their natural development proceeds! And yes, we have ways to measure growth, described in this thread.

IV. Student-guided curriculum

"Curriculum is guided by the learning interests, strengths, style and needs of individual students."

Obviously there's a whole spectrum of possiblilties contained in this statement. Here is a place to talk about what is happening in your school

V. Social justice

"The program includes a focus on social justice and equity by actively recognizing the talents and hopes of all students and actively addresses issues of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other issues of discrimination.

"Reaching beyond MLK Day and Black History Month and making it last all year...read on.