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Alternative Program options are designed to provide academic and behavioral support to secondary students who have not been successful in the general education program. The goal of all of the Alternative Programs is to return the student to a comprehensive school as soon as possible.

Level 1 Alternative Programs are available for students who are experiencing academic and/or behavioral difficulties and who are not demonstrating progress in response to prescribed instructional and/or behavioral interventions and strategies that have been provided in general education.

Each secondary school has staff members dedicated to the development and implementation of a school-based Level 1 Alternative Program. With ongoing direct instruction in these areas, as well as guidance and monitoring, students in these programs should be able to experience greater success and remain in the mainstream of school activities. The programs also are designed to support the student in his or her general education classes.

There is no staffing formula used to allocate positions to Alternative Level 1 programs at schools. The Alternative Level 1 staffing allocations are determined for individual middle and high schools based on a school’s historical Level 1 Alternative Program enrollment data throughout the school year, the school’s total enrollment of students, the number of student referrals made to a Level 2 Alternative Program at a school, the percentage of students at a school that are identified as ineligible, the percentage of students at a school that are identified as FARMS eligible, and a school’s drop-out rate.

Enrollment at each school’s Level 1 Alternative Program fluctuates throughout the school year as student’s transition in or out of the program based on individual student needs and movement to and from Level 2 and 3 Alternative Programs.