Category Archives: Alternatives

Range of Alternatives

January 11, 2009 – 1:01 pm

We recently created the outline below showing the kinds of choices available to students in some parts of Minnesota. This may be similar to other states. By no means are all of these alternatives available to all students in all places but it represents a major shift in what parents had to choose from in [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Choices, MN Assoc. Alt Prog | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Homeschooling Sharp Increase

January 8, 2009 – 12:14 pm

The percentage of the school-age population that was home-schooled showed a significant increase from 2.2% in 2003 to 2.9% in 2007 according to a U.S. Department of Education report. The number of home-schooled kids hit 1.5 million in 2007, up 36% since 2003. The report identified seven reasons parents give as their motivation for home-schooling [...]

By admin | Also posted in Homeschooling, Reports, Research, U.S. Dept. of Educ. | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Federal Program Supports School Choice

December 6, 2008 – 5:21 pm

The U. S. Department of Education’s Office of Voluntary Public School Choice program supports States and school districts in efforts to establish or expand a public school choice program. It supports efforts to establish or expand intradistrict, interdistrict, and open enrollment public school choice programs to provide parents, particularly parents whose children attend low-performing public [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Choices, Policy, Reports, U.S. Dept. of Educ., Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A Most Remarkable Book

October 9, 2008 – 8:10 pm

IALA promotes educational choices and there would not be the compelling call for change in district schools if they engaged students more. Here are my comments about an amazing book by an extraordinary teacher in a most democratic program. If Holden Caulfield Were In My Classroom: Inspiring Love, Creativity and Intelligence in Middle School Students [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Democratic schools, Personalized Educ, Reform, Students | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Choice of Education Is Advancing

September 26, 2008 – 11:53 am

Peter Groff, chair of the Colorado Senate wants to see 100 new schools for students to choose from. The Initiative called Get Smart Schools will be launched shortly. Already two new schools will open next fall: Envision and Atlas. Chicago and New York are cited as having opened new schools (55 and 88 respectively) in [...]

By admin | Also posted in Choices, Reports | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Courses Available on Alternative Ed and Starting a School

August 26, 2008 – 11:10 am

The Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) is providing courses on how to start an alternative school and on the history of alternative education. Start a School 101 begins September 15, 2008 and is taught by Jerry Mintz among others. The Theory and History of Educational Alternatives is taught by Ron Miller and will also start [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in AERO, Alt, Ed. Res. Org., Conferences, Democratic schools, Mintz, Jerry | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

IALA Resources

July 31, 2008 – 7:42 pm

At the home page, people can subscribe to this monthly newsletter (if your received this in your email, you are already subscribed). If you wish to unsubscribe, send an email to Contact Us and you will be removed. At the home page, you can search on the 100s of past notes and other resources at [...]

By admin | Also posted in Choices, Ed Alt for Everyone, IALA, Intern. Ass. Lrng Alts, Reports, Research, Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments (0)

Online Learning: Growth and Evaluation

July 10, 2008 – 7:46 pm

In a certain to be much talked about book, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton M. Christensen, Curtis W. Johnson, and Michael B. Horn describe how a majority of students will use online learning within a decade. They suggest we must disrupt, that is change, thinking about [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Charter schools, Choices, Online learning, Personalized Educ, Reports, Virtual schools | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Radical New Kind of School Proposed

July 4, 2008 – 1:08 pm

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick proposed Readiness Schools, as a radical departure from conventional district schools according to an article in the Boston Globe. Officials said these schools would be “freed from many constraints imposed by unions, school districts, and the state. The readiness schools would adapt to community needs and offer new alternatives in school [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Charter schools, Reform, Reports, Statutes | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Democratic Schools Paper

July 3, 2008 – 12:58 am

Arising from discussions with Politeia, Brazil’s democratic education institute, at the 15th International Democratic Education Conference last summer in Sao Paulo a new work “A History of Democratic Education in American Public Schools” by democracy advocate and IALA member John Harris Loflin is now available. Supported by IALA, this comprehensive 161 page paper aims at persuading American [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Articles, At risk programs, Democratic schools, IDEC, Loflin, John, Reports, Research | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Questions Raised about High Standards/Testing

June 22, 2008 – 12:55 pm

‘Restoring Value’ to the High School Diploma: The Rhetoric and Practice of Higher Standards, a new report raises serious questions about the standards and testing movement as a vehicle for reforming high schools. It starts, “Four themes emerge from the fray: that standards and rigor are too low; that the high school has lost its [...]

By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Choices, High schools, Policy, Reform, Reports, Research | Comments (0)

School Choice is the Wave of the Future

June 17, 2008 – 10:43 pm
By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Choices, Gates Foundation, Reports, Research | Comments (0)

Baccalaureate Degree at Community Colleges!

May 15, 2008 – 11:07 am
By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Choices, Policy, Reform | Comments (0)

Early College High Schools Grow Dramatically

May 14, 2008 – 10:46 am
By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in At risk programs, Choices, Early College HS, Middle college schools, Policy, Reform | Comments (0)

Parents Favor More Choices in Schools

May 14, 2008 – 8:18 am
By Wayne Jennings | Also posted in Charter schools, Choices, Parents, Policy, Reports, Research, Survey | Comments (0)