AHSI helped increase tenfold the number of high quality alternative schools and programs engaging struggling students and out-of-school youth between 2003 and 2009. On a considerably wider scale, however, a dropout crisis persists in the U.S. among a majority of young people, particularly low-income African American and Latino youth in our largest cities. [...]

AHSI has cultivated a community of practice among members which promotes exchanging best practices, tools, and strategies; allows for shared knowledge development; creates a forum for developing collective projects and products; and offers a forum for problem-solving and program enhancement. AHSI members contribute expertise and ideas based on field-level, practical experiences operating programs and interacting [...]

The purpose of the AHSI Policy Work Group is to provide a forum for collaborative identification and problem-solving around the policy opportunities and barriers that affect development of high-quality alternatives for high school. Staff of the education program at the National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (NLCI) support and facilitate the Policy Work Group.

AHSI will host a new event ~ a major national alternative high school conference ~ targeting educators and other key stakeholders dedicated to improving high school graduation rates and post-high school success rates among struggling students and those who’ve dropped out of school. AHSI will connect relevant partners in schools, cities, and states to foster high quality, better integrated, seamless secondary school and postsecondary systems that work well for young people.