ALCs offer personalized education programs year round, day and evening, to accommodate the needs of learners. A wide variety of courses, leading to diplomas, are taught using alternative methods of instruction. Alternative programs personalize the education of learners at risk of not completing high school. Classes are taught using alternative methods and scheduling, and these programs are offered during the typical school day and year. Findings revealed that these schools are small and the directors and staff have control over major curriculum and program decisions.
Teachers choose to teach in the schools and the students choose to attend the schools.
There are few support services within the school but community resources are used to support the curriculum. However, central administrators provide more input into decisions about funding, transportation, special education services, hiring of staff, and building improvements. Directors report more control over the number of students enrolled in the school with staff having more control over the courses offered, instructional methods, grading and evaluation standards, choice of curriculum and texts, and student behavior standards. Schools have considerable autonomy from the district in most programmatic areas but still depend upon central administration for funding and building space. Teachers report more freedom at the alternative schools and most of them also report a higher level of job satisfaction than when teaching at a traditional school.