The state board of education voted Thursday to adopt new rules governing Georgia’s alternative education programs.
The new rules, in the making for more than a year, essentially mandates local school districts to teach the same curriculum, give standardized tests and follow federal and state laws governing special education students like every other school.
The board hopes the changes will ultimately increase high school graduation rates among alternative school students, decrease the drop-out rate and increase the number of those students entering college.
“We wanted to ensure that students were getting the kind of instruction necessary to continue advancing through the curriculum,” state board spokesman Matt Cardoza said.
The new rules were met with mixed emotion during a brief public hearing Wednesday.
Tony Guisasola, principal of Dawson County Crossroads Alternative School, said the new rule provides an excellent opportunity to raise both the standards and public perception of non-traditional education.
“There’s the perception that we are a discipline school and the students there are bad,” said Guisasola. “They are not.”
Jennifer Falk, education chairwoman of the Georgia NAACP, also welcomed the changes but said she could not join in the celebration.
“There is no doubt that the Georgia Department of Education’s leadership in presenting this rule will correct significant problems that exist today in our alternative education facilities and we are very thankful for this first step,” said Falk.
But she said the rule will not address the thousands of students being funneled into alternative educational schools and programs for discipline reasons. Nor will it address, she said, the disparity of those students, the majority of whom are black, male, special and poor.
Falk said the board and department’s staff are “deluding themselves in believing that these schools will ever be held accountable for performance.”
“Anyone who knows anything about the state rules for ‘Full Academic Year' and subgroups understands that these schools/programs will rarely if ever get the benefit of an AYP [Adequate Yearly Progress] determination and the resources as well as consequences that go with that determination,” she said.
Guisasola said, however, the rules will not only provide schools with the flexibility they need to tailor programs to students' needs but will provide for more rigor and accountability. He cited that 15 special education students, comprising nearly 7 percent of Dawson County High’s Class of 2010, will be among the 217 seniors graduating later this month.
Guisasola said that those students will go on to college or enter the military.
"They’re being successful,” he said.
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