Alternative Education
Options Abound for Many Different Learning Styles
For many years, schools that focused on different teaching styles have been termed “alternative programs.” In fact, researchers have demonstrated that students have many different kinds of learning styles and they aren’t simply traditional or alternative. Here are a few of the programs in the Olympia School District that take a different approach to learning.
AVANTI HIGH SCHOOL
Avanti High School is a performance standards school where students receive a personalized education. The small school size, dedicated and caring staff, and the use of learning plans and theme classes provides a challenging and motivating educational setting that focuses on a student's interests and strengths. Avanti, which is located on the first level of the Knox Building located on the corner of Legion and Eastside, serves about 140 students. At Avanti, students learn, and can demonstrate their learning, in a variety of ways. Student learning is tied to demonstration of competency and not tied to seat time. The curriculum is integrated, allowing students to work on and demonstrate competent skills in more than one area at a time. For more information, contact Avanti High School at 596-7900 or visit the Avanti High website.
MARSHALL ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM (MAP)
MAP is a parent partnership program based on the assumption that
parents have the right and responsibility to be actively involved in
their children’s education and to provide input for decision making for
that education. Each MAP family is encouraged to participate in
and outside the classroom throughout the year. Parents, teachers,
and students work together as a team to help each student achieve her
or his full potential.
As participants in MAP:
- Students are encouraged to set high academic, social and personal goals.
- Students learn to respect the abilities and the work of their fellow students.
- Students learn to develop a strong sense of community and self.
For more information, contact Marshall Middle School at 596-7600 or visit Marshall's website.
ALKI AT REEVES MIDDLE SCHOOL
ALKI is a team-taught, multi-grade, middle school program with extensive parental involvement. ALKI draws from the entire Olympia School District and strives to recruit interested and informed students who are willing to work toward challenging academic goals to the best of their ability and be active participants in their educational process. ALKI welcomes the inherent diversity among students and seeks to create an inclusive model that values emotional and academic skill development. ALKI recognizes the importance of distinct learning styles, acknowledges the significance of emotional intelligence and promotes experiential learning. This commitment to an innovative and integrated curriculum includes community service and field studies. For more information, contact Reeves Middle School at 596-3400 or visit the Reeves website.
LINCOLN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
The Options Program at Lincoln School provides a unified model for grades K-5 that respects how children learn and views learning as a collaborative effort of staff, students and parents. Attributes of the Options Program include:
- Social and emotional growth, and academic growth are equally valued.
- Children stay with the same teacher in multi-age classrooms for two years or more to support their learning and strengthen the family-school relationship.
- Multiple intelligences, cooperation, social justice and sustainability are taught and practiced.
Parents are vital to sustaining the Options program and are involved in governance, as partners supporting learning in the classroom, enrichment activities, field trips, fund raising, and social events. For more information, contact Lincoln Elementary School at 596-6400 or visit the Lincoln Options website.
HANSEN ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM
At Hansen Elementary School, the Hansen Alternative Program’s (HAP)
mission is to bind children, teachers and parents together in a
progressive educational environment. This setting enhances a child’s
love of discovery and learning, while developing academic and social
skills at an individualized pace. HAP emphasizes team-teaching
opportunities, parental involvement, and multi-aged classrooms, and
fosters an active, hands-on learning experience for all children.
The key goals of the program are to:
- Cultivate a sense of community;
- Increase the amount of personalized instruction students receive; and,
- Create specialized activities and learning opportunities to expand on the established curriculum.
For more information, contact Hansen Elementary School at 596-7400 or visit Hansen's website.
iConnect Academy
iConnect Academy offers students the ability to earn their high school diploma in a flexible and supportive manner that helps students focus on a quality education that best meets their individual goals. Students work on your courses anytime day or night, weekends, at home or anywhere a computer and online access is available. Our highly skilled teachers work with students closely to help ensure students can learn at their own pace – more quickly where possible so the student isn’t bored, and more slowly where a student may need more support. As a local online school, students also have the advantage of meeting individually with their teachers when face-to-face instruction would be most helpful. Our counselor also works closely with students and their families to help ensure that all students are working on a plan that moves them toward a diploma and on to college, additional training, or whatever the student’s goals might be after high school. For more information, contact us at (360) 596-7730 or visit our website at Olympia Regional Learning Academy.
Parent Partnership Program
The Parent Partnership Program (PPP) partners with families who provide homebased instruction in support of each family’s education of their children. Parents remain the primary teacher in their children’s education, but the Parent Partnership Program can provide support by offering:
- on-site classes that are more difficult to provide at home, such as art, science labs, world languages, PE, music, etc. in addition to the core subject areas of language arts, math, science and social studies,
- Resources in the form of books, math manipulatives, science kits, microscopes, etc.;
- Access to teacher consultants and family networking to discuss instructional strategies; and
- Peer interaction opportunities.
The Parent Partnership Program offers over 90 classes for grades K-12. For high school age students, a high school diploma may also be earned through the PPP. Classes change every eleven weeks. For more information, visit our website at Olympia Regional Learning Academy or contact (360) 596-7730.