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 have contributed expertise and ideas based on field-level, practical experiences operating programs and [...]

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.