Alternative Education at the Capital Region Career & Technical School

Have you ever felt like things weren't working out for you in the traditional high school environment? Maybe Career & Tech's Alternative Education program is right for you!

The Alternative Education program, sometimes called Alt Ed or Alternative High School, is a Regents-based program designed for students who want to take control of their academic situations. Alt Ed is for students who are willing to make a commitment to becoming successful in school.

Alt Ed is an attractive educational option. If a student is interested in addressing the personal problems that have interrupted his or her education, he or she will be successful in our program.

Alt Ed is not an easy way out. It is an opportunity to work with caring adults and to deal with some often serious and difficult issues. It is an opportunity to grow personally and socially as well as academically.


ALT ED's EIGHT KEYS TO SUCCESS
We are proud of our program and our students. We have found that students become successful by doing the following:

1. Attending classes.
2. Challenging themselves and not being afraid to make mistakes.
3. Respecting themselves and others.
4. Staying focused on their work.
5. Understanding and following Alt Ed rules.
6. Realizing the teachers' responsibility is to teach and the students' responsibility is to learn.
7. Be willing to improve themselves. (Change is good!)
8. Communicating needs for academic success.

We look forward to helping students identify and meet all their academic, social and professional goals.

A WINNING TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Our teachers work as a team to help students be victorious. Each day, they help students succeed by:
-Providing an environment that will promote the development of skills and will allow each individual to reach his/her potential as a lifelong learner.
-Teaching in a safe environment that helps to develop self-esteem, confidence and encourage social interaction skills.
-Recognizing that change in behavior and improvement of academic and social skills are necessary for success.
-Helping students take control of their lives so they become productive participants in the classroom, at school, at home, and in their communities.
-Rekindling students' hope for the future through demonstrated academic, social improvement and career preparation.

THE Alternative Education Block Schedule
Block scheduling can often help students be successful by giving them more time to focus on learning and not on constantly shifting gears upon the sounding of a bell.

Alt Ed classes meet every other day on an A-B day timeline, and our teachers are experienced in keeping all of our classes interesting and cutting-edge.

REGENTS DIPLOMA
Our record can't be beat! In general, over 90% of our students graduate with regents credit. Quite often, a large portion of this percentage were at-risk students who have told us that they were contemplating dropping out, upon entry of our program. Our educators go the extra mile to find the connections needed to help our students succeed.

SMALL TEACHER/STUDENT RATIO
Classes are limited to 15 students. This allows for a better learning atmosphere.

TEST OUT STATUS
One real good facet of our program is our flexibility. We offer Test Out (T/O) status, as well as In Progress (I/P) in all of our regents credit bearing classes. Test Out status is given to a student who fails a Regents-level course, but has enough seat time that it does not always make sense to have them sit through the entire course again, if they did not take advantage of summer school elsewhere.

For example, if a student fails English 10, they can go into T/O status next year. This allows them to take ENG 10 again, but this time from September to January. They would then take the midterm as their final. If they pass their midterm, they can then in January start taking English 11 under "In Progress" status. Essentially, it is like being able to take summer school, during the school year - so that students don't fall so far behind that they become at risk for drop-out.

WEEKLY TEACHER MEETINGS
Once a week, our Alt Ed Teachers meet on a voluntary basis to discuss individual student issues together. These meetings help to identify trends and wide-spread concerns that students have socially and scholastically.

MONTHLY STUDENT ADVISORY MEETINGS Each Alt Ed teacher acts as an advisor for a group of about a dozen students. The students are encouraged to bring any problems or concerns that they may have to their advisory teacher. Once a month, an Alt Ed assembly will be held for general information, which will culminate in a brief advisory meeting.

MONTHLY ACTIVITY
Once a month, students are able to take part in an activity or field trip that will help them to grow culturally, socially or academically. Some of these trips are often the most rewarding experiences and memories that the students take with them upon graduation.

ALT ED SUPPORT STAFF
All of our students work with the same guidance counselor and social worker. Such support staff work together to solve problems that students may face.

WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Would you like to learn more about Alternative Education at the Capital Region Career and Technical School? Talk to your home high school guidance or school counselor for details.

Read more about it:
Successful alumnus of Alt Ed eyes careers in astrophysics, nanotechnology
Jason Soo Hoo believes young people should be open to all that is available to them and take time to explore their interests. While a student in Career & Tech’s Alternative Education program, Jason completed the Computer Aided Design & Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) program during his junior year and the second year of the Computer & Network Technician program during his senior year. Now a Siena College sophomore double majoring in physics and computer science, Soo Hoo is eyeing potential careers in astrophysics or nanotechnology. Read more.

Read what two 2006 Alt Ed/Alt HS grads have to say about their experiences