About Us and Position Paper

The mission of the International Association for Learning Alternatives is to lead, promote and support learning alternatives in education.

The International Association for Learning Alternatives began in 1970 and has held some 35 annual national conferences organized informally until 2001 when the need for a formal board, officers, newsletter and website arose and was established.

This mission signals our interest in seeing that parents and students have choices of educational programs to meet their needs, interests, learning styles and intelligences. We believe that one-size education program does not fit everyone and that education is best served by having choices for all. Here is our position paper that we aim to influence state and national legislation–first a short version and then a more complete version is a pdf file.

International Association for Learning Alternatives 

Position Statement

 The mission of the International Association for Learning Alternatives (IALA) is to “Lead, promote and support learning alternatives in education”. Research shows that parents and learners must have choices of educational programs that meet their needs. Because not all children learn the same, state and federal legislative policy should require a variety of educational models.

 IALA supports changes to federal and state legislation that will:

  1.  Encourage program autonomy through site-based decision-making authority.
  2.  Allow multiple measures beyond standardized tests, to assess individual student progress and program/school quality.
  3.  Provide for flexible teacher licensing to recognize unique talents that support innovative learning strategies.
  4.  Provide support by exempting learning alternatives from federal and state mandates, and creating innovative pilot sites that allow for open enrollment.

  The complete position paper on IALA Initiatives is a pdf  file.

 To contact any of the board members via email, use the form on the contact page, and it will be forwarded to them.

Board of Directors

Wayne Jennings, chair, educator
449 Desnoyer Avenue (Home/Work)
St. Paul, MN 55104-4946
651-644-2805 Fax 2020

Ray Morley, vice chair, educator
3706 SW Ct. Avenue (Home)
Ankeny, IA 50021-9215
515-964-8903

Dan Daly, secretary-treasurer, educator
112103 Haering Circle (Home)
Chaska, MN 55318-1446
952-448-7203

Advisory Board

Russ Averill
30303 West 14 Mile Road (School)
Farmington Hills, MI 48334-1502
248-888-6282

1056 Gentry Drive (Home)
South Lyon, MI 48178-8708
248-446-0180

Wally Campbell, STARS coordinator
13240 White Marsh Lane #22 (Home)
Fort Myers, FL 33912-3828
952-220-4145

Cherie Exner, teacher
P.O. Box 1104
Republic, WA 99166-1104
509-775-3975

Nathaniel Hosley, professor
Courthouse Annex #315 (Work)
401 North Fairview Street
Lock Haven, PA 17745-2342
570-893-6247

Elizabeth Quigley, PALA chair
299 Jacksonville Rd. (Work)
Warminster, PA 18974-4850
215-443-0280

160 Forsythia Court (Home)
Quakertown, PA 18951-2736
215-538-1687

Bill Scalise, alternative school coordinator
752 Brayman Hollow Road (Home)
Pomfret, CT 06259-1009
860-974-1832

193 Mechanic Street (Work)
Danielson, CT 06239-1917
860-779-6660

Irv Zisselman, assistant principal
2526 Kingsland Court (Home)
Atlanta, GA 30360-1436
770-730-9031

Organization Documents

All of these files are PDF documents. You will need a compatible viewer such as Adobe Reader to view them.