Measuring Success in NC Alternative Education – Beyond Graduation Rates | The Carolina Journal

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In recent years, North Carolina has taken bold steps to improve its education system for students in alternative schools. These schools, which serve at-risk and off-track students, often face unique challenges that make traditional accountability measures — like graduation rates and school performance grades — poorly suited for evaluating their success. Recognizing this, North Carolina established the Alternative Schools’ Modified Accountability System in the early 2000s, a groundbreaking effort designed to more fairly assess alternative schools and give them the flexibility they need to thrive. This initiative ensures that alternative schools are held to high standards and provides a model for the broader education system to embrace the diverse needs of all students.

Students in alternative schools may face various challenges, making it difficult to succeed in traditional schools. Students served in alternative schools may be overage, behind on credits, raising children, or working to help support a household. In some cases, students may also have behavioral issues that need to be addressed outside the traditional classroom. There’s often a stigma that these students have no desire to graduate, but that’s not necessarily the case; they usually just need a more personalized approach to reach that goal that traditional schools cannot provide.

Because of these students’ challenges, evaluating these schools with the same accountability measures that apply to conventional schools doesn’t work…

Read the full story here:  https://www.carolinajournal.com/opinion/beyond-graduation-rates-measuring-success-in-nc-alternative-education/