IALA » Loflin, John

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.

International Democratic Education Conference

Wayne Jennings — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:22:39 +0000

The International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) provides some of the most provocative and growing challenges to conventional education and probably some of the most extreme examples of choice. John Loflin has attended all of the recent conferences and filed comprehensive reports on their proceedings. The first conference was in 1993 and most recent was in Vancouver, Canada, August, 2008 and John did his usual thorough report. You can find his previous reports and other information on IDEC at the home website using IDEC as the search term.

Democratic Schools Paper

Wayne Jennings — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:58:30 +0000

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 urban public classrooms and schools to become more democratic. In doing so, he encourages public schools to enter solidly into the 21st century by questioning, rethinking and providing alternatives to 20th century concepts particularly for under-served children and youth.

Checklist for Alternative Education

Wayne Jennings — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 21:38:26 +0000

Three valuable and useful checklist are available on the IALA website to help determine whether a given alternative school is truly an alternative versus a mere replication of conventional education. These thoughtful checklists for anyone to use include:
Pseudo-Alternative School Checklist by John Loflin

Checklist of Quality Indicators for Alternative Education by Ray Morley

Quality Indicators for Alternative Schools in the Seattle School District by Elaine Packard

International Democratic Education Conference

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 23:47:57 +0000

The 14th International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) was held this past July in Sydney, Australia. 250-300 people from 15 countries attended. The event is relevant to today

Alternatives in India

Wayne Jennings — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 06:33:43 +0000

John Loflin worked with India educators to succeed with greater numbers of students using the results of research on learning, experiences with alternatives and the promise of democratic schools. This report contains valuable references about brain based learning, individualized learning and other aspects of school reform. The discussions created a powerful rationale for providing alternatives to serve all students in an area of schools serving 9,000 students.

International Democratic Education Conference

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 04:42:24 +0000

The 10 day 12th International Democratic Education Conference was recently held in Bhubaneshwar, India with a view to strengthen a global movement that aims to make both teacher and child participants in the process of learning through democratic ideals. Around 400 delegates, including students and adults form 19 nations, attended. The theme was Shanti (peace) in Education. Various workshops about free schools, alternative schools of choice, and democratic schools were held. There was a special effort to bring awareness of the learning alternatives provided by schools and groups working with poor children in marginalized communities in Asia, Africa, and South America.The report by John Loflin provides a good description of the conference and background information.

Is Your Alternative School Authentic?

Wayne Jennings — Wed, 11 Feb 2004 16:08:18 +0000

John Loflin has produced a survey for alternative schools to examine their faithfulness to true alternative educational principles. He calls it the Pseudo-Alternative Checklist. It’s a reality check for schools and a reminder of what originators of the alternative movement had in mind for educational choices. In addition to the survey (there are two forms), Loflin provides a rationale for the checklists, and a set of best practices with an extensive bibliography. You will find this material useful because of its specifics. Loflin’s material is a welcome addition to extensive materials at the IALA website.

Types of Alternatives

Wayne Jennings — Thu, 19 Jun 2003 17:48:56 +0000

John Loflin, in a recent article, describes the types of alternatives (Type I, II, III) and critiques Indiana’s alternatives which are too often “soft jails” for at-risk youth and marshalls a persuasive argument for alternatives for all students. He wants to see school districts and the state take a more proactive position to provide choices of programs for everyone.