High School Alternatives

June 19, 2009

Vol. 28, Issue 35, Pages 27-29
Three cities are expanding learning options for students who struggle in traditional settings.
By Erik W. Robelen
Like a lot of other teenagers, Raven Ratcliff is a big fan of television’s “CSI” series. But she’s turned that interest in crime-scene investigations into something more: a real-world learning experience. As part of [...]

City Education Leaders Gather to Explore High School, College, and Workforce Innovations

June 10, 2009

by Jonathan Rogers and Michael Karpman
At last week’s spring meeting of NLC’s Mayors’ Education Policy Advisors Network (EPAN) in San Francisco, more than 35 mayors’ education advisors joined representatives from the Alternative High School Initiative (AHSI) and Early College High School Initiative (ECHSI), along with other top education leaders from across the nation, to discuss [...]

Nashville Leaders Form High-Level Group to Support Alternative High School Students

May 28, 2009

by Jonathan Rogers and Marjorie Cohen
Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors recently joined Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) Director Dr. Jesse Register and members of Alignment Nashville in forming a new committee that will enhance wraparound services for students in the city’s alternative high schools.
Following a May 7 reception at [...]

National Forum on Re-Enrolling High School Dropouts

May 1, 2009

SHAPING A NATIONAL DISCUSSION TO DEVELOP RESOURCES TO BRING MORE DROPOUTS OFF THE STREETS
May 5, 2009
8am-11:15am
National Press Club
529 14th Street NW
Washington, DC

“My budget invests in developing…new efforts to give dropouts who want to return to school the help they need to graduate; and new ways to put those young men and women who have left [...]

See Forever’s Oak Hill Academy Featured in Washington Post

April 14, 2009

School of Second Chances
The teachers at Oak Hill Academy approach their jobs with the faith that even the most hardened juvenile delinquents can achieve — and the knowledge that many still won’t
By Karen Houppert
Sunday, April 12, 2009; W18
The six teenage boys, incarcerated at the District’s Oak Hill juvenile detention facility in Laurel file into [...]

First Lady Joins YouthBuild in Celebrating 30 Years

March 18, 2009

A note from Sangeeta Tyagi, Senior Vice President for Public Policy, YouthBuild USA
Dear Colleagues:
I have just returned from YouthBuild’s 30th anniversary celebration and it has been several days of what has felt like a family reunion in the nicest sense — old and new friends, funders and supporters, students and graduates, staff from local programs [...]

Past Network News - March 2, 2009

March 2, 2009

A glimpse into this month’s edition of the AHSI Network News…
-See Forever Kicks Off Power of Change Campaign!
-First QR MINT Visit to Mapleton Early College a Success!
-Denver Street School Boys Basketball Team Wins FRCAA Championship Title!
-Indianapolis Partnership Hosts Community Involvement Event!
-SAMHSA Accepting Applications for $11 Million in Grants!

Indianapolis Mayor Musters Resources for New Alternative High Schools

February 2, 2009

By Marjorie Cohen and Andrew Moore
In a unique event held this month, Indianapolis Mayor Gregory A. Ballard publicly lent his support to a broad effort to ensure that students in the city’s recently launched alternative high schools receive adequate services to help them graduate prepared for postsecondary education and career success.
Kicking off a resource fair [...]

New Alternative Schools Will Serve Range of Nashville Students

By Jamie Sarrio
Nashville’s options for high school will expand this fall as the district rolls out two new nontraditional choices.
First is a Diploma Plus high school, a special program targeting students who have dropped out of school or are at risk of dropping out. They complete their degree in a small setting with a project-based [...]

Newark Mayor, Superintendent Launch Alternative High School Partnership

January 16, 2009

Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory A. Booker and Newark Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Clifford B. Janey together announced a partnership to reduce local dropout rates by developing new student-centered alternative high schools during a recent press conference in Newark.