Successful schools provide teachers with stimulating, ongoing professional development activities that help teachers to maintain an academic focus, enhance teaching strategies, and develop alternative instructional methods. Properly designed staff development involves teacher input, work with colleagues, and opportunities to visit and observe teaching in other settings. When given opportunities to examine differences between instructional aspirations and actual practice, teachers will achieve what they aspire to do, provided that they have adequate staff development and support. Strong level of autonomy and professional decision-making. Decisions about staffing, leadership, budgets, scheduling, curriculum, and pedagogy need to be made by teaching and support staff who have direct contact with students.
Effective schools provide autonomy that builds trust and loyalty among staff.
Sense of community. Within effective school communities, students and staff share expectations for learning, and students are encouraged to take a variety of courses and activities that enable them to pursue their interests and aspirations. The elements identified above provide the foundation for a successful alternative education program. In addition to a progressive education orientation that has problem solving as an organizing framework, alternative education programs need to identify essential elements of the curriculum and how the program links with other agencies and services for youth. For example, some youths and families who may choose alternative education will have social service or mental health needs.