IALA » Ed Alt for Everyone

Linda Darling-Hammond on Choice

admin — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 01:29:15 +0000

In her new book The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future (Multicultural Education) Linda Darling-Hammond share her views on how schools can be improved for all students from all backgrounds. She poignantly describes what the United States needs to do in order to build a stronger, more equitable educational system. Recently she appeared via audio cast on Elluminate talking about both The Flat World and Education, as well as, The Right to Learn. http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/lindadarlinghammond.mp3

Lake Superior as Your Classroom

admin — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:28:56 +0000

For the next 5 months Lake Superior will become a living classroom for two lifetime educators and the school groups that follow them, either physically or via the world wide web. Mike Link and Kate Crowley are currently walking the entire shoreline of Lake Superior in an effort to bring attention to the environmental and cultural changes occuring on the greatest of all our lakes. You can follow their progress via their website that includes daily blog updates and youtube videos. This is fantastic way for students to be a part of real time education and another way of using emerging technology in the classroom. Follow the progress at http://www.fullcirclesuperior.org

High School Graduation in Four Years – Why Not Two Years or Even Six?

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:57:15 +0000

High Schoolers have many more options today then they did even a decade ago. There are Alternative, Charter, Private and On-Line options, and now there are options in many states to graduate early or if necessaryto stay one, two or even three additional years. Recently both the New York Times and U.S. Today had articles reflecting these new options.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-02-25-senioryear25foronline_st_N.htm

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/a-diploma-in-10th-grade/

Education Without Walls

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:46:09 +0000

The technology revolution has entered into every part of our lives, and now it seems that the implications for education are about to bring major changes to the way students and indeed all of us learn and gain information. There are a multitude of options for students of all ages to gather and disseminate information on multiple platforms. Many people have already discovered the multitude of useful websites providing information regarding distance learning. The Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning http://mediasite.ics.uwex.edu/mediasite5/Viewer/?peid=a863be1f5bc348bbb1c875366dafe581# has a great presentation with many thought provoking ideas for educators. Another intriguing site is ted.com TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. TED’s world class presenters on video stretch users with valuable information on a wide variety of topics.

Alternative Education: Standards, Descriptions, Action

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:18:10 +0000

Several helpful documents are available for describing, implementing and evaluating alternative education programs. The first three refer to alternative education broadly, that is, providing a choice of programs for all students. The last one is more attuned to at-risk students.

Ray Morley and the Iowa Association of Alternative Education prepared a thoughtful document, Alternative Learning Environments: a Checklist of Quality Indicators. This offers a program the opportunity to examine its practices for their alignment with some of the best thinking about alternative education.

The Seattle Public Schools under the leadership of Elaine Packard adopted a well-worded document, Quality Indicators for Alternative Schools in the Seattle School District.

Member John Loflin wrote a valuable document which is part of our resource bank of materials. His Pseudo-Alternative School Checklist identifies numerous aspects of alternative education which are not truly “alternative” practices. It is a thoughtful and provocative document.

A Tennessee official has written what they describe as the first national framework of practices that are common to alternative education which have been adopted by the National Alternative Education Association. The framework covers 10 areas: Mission, Leadership, Climate, Staffing, Curriculum, Assessment, Planning, Parents, Collaboration, Program Evaluation.

IALA Resources

admin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:42:25 +0000

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 the site.

The numerous articles and material on alternatives, legislation are all freely available to you.

Other items available to you: Store has the Glines powerful book, Educational Alternatives for Everyone and the DVD on Wilson Campus school; Books by Glines and others, information About Us; and how to Join and Support the choices in education movement.

Personalized Education

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 15:39:34 +0000

Personalized Education Now advocates student managed learning, a shift from dependency to independence, use of an educational landscape of opportunities, and other advanced concepts. Their 2 newsletters and 2 journals provide lively paradigm shifting items to advocate for learner-centered, learner-directed and democratic programs. A related organization Education Heretics Press offers well-received but radical books including Natural Learning and the Natural Curriculum, Comparing Learning Systems and items on home schooling. Probably no one does a better job of documenting the harsh reality of traditional practices on the human spirit and learning.

They provide descriptions of new approaches to learning, vision statements, principles, alternatives to schools, critiques on testing, book reviews, upcoming conferences and more. Janet and Roland Meighan of Bramcote Hills, Nottingham, England and the board of trustees provide an excellent international resource and are highly recommended sources for serious critics of traditional practices.

Examples of Educational Alternatives

Wayne Jennings — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 18:32:56 +0000

Alternatives come in many types. Here are four alternatives–unusual and extraordinary public schools with links for more information:
Jennings Experiential High School takes its urban students on two 35 day overseas trips, this year to Costa Rica and Ghana, West Africa. There they perform community service and study many aspects of the environment. They prepare for the trips with five weeks of intensive study.

Minnesota New Country School (7-12) and River Heights Charter School (9-12) contract for staffing and other services with a cooperative of teachers. Students study topics of personal interest using the project method for learning.
Village School of Northfield (K-12) gives staff and students a vote about all aspects of the school. They follow the Sudbury model of permitting students to follow their interests at their own pace.
High School for Recording Arts (9-12)joins a school with a commercial recording arts business, Studio 4. Their high-need students enroll because of an interest in popular music, hence the nickname, Hip Hop High. Records have been distributed nationally.

These experiential learning examples show the diversity among educational alternatives that parents, students and staff can choose from. Extending school choices for learning is the mission of IALA. This website’s purpose is to promote thoughtful examination of the one-size-fits-all philosophy so much the central tenet of traditional education. We wish to assist policy makers and others who recognize the benefits of providing an array of educational choices.

School Choice Report

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 17:39:54 +0000

The Congressional Research Service produces authoritative reports for Congress. The reports are not public but can be requested through your representative or senator, if you know what to ask for. Now a service makes these reports available and I recommend the first 10 pages of an excellent summary of all types of school choices ranging over: intra-district, inter-district, charter schools, tax subsidies, subsidies to private schools, school vouchers, and supplemental educational services. It also describes various types of federal assistance for school choice.

Excellent book, Educational Alternatives for Everyone

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 04:28:23 +0000

Don Glines’ excellent book, Educational Alternatives for Everyone: A Handbook for Educators, Families and Politicians is for sale at our online store. An unparalleled and extraordinary resource book on learning alternatives by the foremost advocate for alternatives. It presents the reasons why choices of a variety of learning environments are essential for the future of society, offers concrete descriptions of various practical programs, defines the potential outcomes and methods of assessment, provides an extensive bibliography and cites fifty relevant quotes by child-centered leaders. 410 pages, 2002. Price $35, Members $30.Buy it now to obtain the greatest resource on educational alternatives. It’s many books of information in one volume.