Basic Information About School Options

The first adventure in school selection is learning the vocabulary. Open, magnet, cross-age groupings, charter, or alternative? Even the same term might have a different meaning from one district to another, but there are some generally accepted terms used to describe the organization or structure of school options:

Neighborhood school. This is the traditional school that most of us remember from our own school days—the public school down the street. Typically this reflects a familiar organization of classrooms of students in elementary grades (K-5 or K-6) taught for most of the day by one teacher, usually with specialists for classes such as art and gym. The school draws from a defined neighborhood, and the students are thus together through their entire elementary experience. Often there is a junior high or middle school that receives students from one or more neighborhood elementary schools in the broader community, and in turn one or more middle schools will feed a geographically related high school. Most districts offering school choice also provide the neighborhood school as one choice, and often this is the “default” choice—if no other selection is made, children attend the neighborhood school. Neighborhood schools can vary immensely in the way they are organized and the resources they provide, often reflecting community preferences. Families who feel strong ties to the neighborhood and prefer the convenience of the local school may find this to be the best option for their children and one offering the most stability in a peer group.

Magnet school. Magnet schools are typically offered as alternatives to the neighborhood school for families seeking a nontraditional focus in curriculum and/or methods of teaching. Called “magnets” to reflect the intent to draw in students from a wide area rather than the immediate community, these schools might be elementary or secondary in grade levels, and can be designed to focus on the arts, sciences, technology, languages, specific cultures, etc. Core curriculum such as reading and math is addressed as in any school, but might be designed around the magnet theme---an arts magnet, for example, might provide reading instruction in the context of learning about different forms of music or visual art, reading and writing scripts for plays, etc. A technology magnet likely provide much greater emphasis on working with computers, digital cameras, etc. At the high school level, magnet programs will offer in-depth explorations of the focus area, such as computer graphics or drama at an arts magnet program, or opportunities to wok as a lab assistant in a medical arts or science magnet. Magnet schools often serve geographically and culturally diverse student populations, and they appeal to families with a child who has well-defined interests and talents.

Open school. Very popular in the 1970s, “open” schools follow a philosophy that emphasizes independent learning and multi-age groupings for instruction. The original concept was applied to settings without traditional walls separating classrooms, thus promoting movement of children between instructional groups as best fit their needs and interests. Today, “open schools” exist in many different structures, even in schools with traditionally built classrooms, but all typically follow the format of moving students across groups and across age levels throughout the school day, and stressing independent learning projects. The actual curriculum might follow the same sequence and content as in a neighborhood or magnet program. Open programs are often organized as K-8 or even K-12, and some districts offer secondary level open programs for middle and/or high school. Open programs tend to appeal to families seeking more individualized and independent learning opportunities for children who tend to take a lot of initiative and responsibility for their own learning. Some children thrive in a multi-age group while others may feel more comfortable with same-age classmates.

Cross-age groups. Many educators feel that traditional “lock-step” same-grade groupings interfere with meeting individual student needs. Thus, some schools—including neighborhood schools, magnet schools, and open schools—are organized around student abilities and instructional needs regardless of student age. Students typically are still assigned to a given grade and homeroom teacher based on age, but may have different teachers and different classmates for basic skills such as reading and math. Usually such groupings are limited to a two or three-year age span, such as first-third grade and fourth-sixth grade. By high school, it is more typical to see students enrolled in classes based on skills and interests, such that many high school classes in the most traditional program are multi-age to some degree.

Some families prefer cross-age groupings to traditional graded instruction, particularly if their children enjoy a mixed age peer group or have a particular strength or area of need. Of course in a traditionally organized school, teachers generally group students within the classroom based on skill level for each subject area.

Charter schools. Instead of being designed and operated by the local school district based on instructional practices and state rules, charter schools are independent public schools developed and maintained by a group of founders. Founders can include parents, community leaders, or for-profit managers who may or may not be professional educators. Charter schools earn their name from the charter that the founder acquires to open the school. Each state sets rules regarding requirements for receiving state approval and funding. There is a great deal of flexibility offered to school founders, allowing independence in managing the school budget and curriculum requirements. Some states require that charter school teachers hold the same credentials as other public school teachers, while others allow flexibility in teacher qualifications.

Sometimes charter schools develop from an existing public school, but many charter schools are newly organized programs often built around a theme much like a magnet school. Families may be attracted to a charter school based on its instructional goals, small class sizes, philosophy, etc. Like other alternative models, charter schools often offer multi-age groupings and may serve elementary, secondary, or K-12 students.

Alternative schools. Many districts offer what are termed “alternative schools,” schools operating within the public school district but providing unique environments for students who for a variety of reasons are not successful in other district schools. The Alternative School is funded by the district and is staffed by district employees. These are usually general education settings that provide alternative approaches to the district curriculum, small classes, usually more individualized instruction, and often other types of support depending on the population served. Each district will have its own unique process for enrolling students in alternative programs; usually students have previously attended typical district programs and have exhibited difficulties ranging from poor motivation and attendance to problematic behavior or academic failure, problems that have not been resolved through other resources.

Students who require more individually tailored programs to address their interests and/or learning difficulties, who are overwhelmed by the large-scale environment of many middle and high schools, who benefit from more individualized adult attention, or who for other reasons are not finding success in school, might thrive in an alternative school setting. Each alternative school is unique and may or may not be a good fit to the student. Students who have significant special education needs may not be good candidates for alternative schools, but may be better served by special education programs in the district, depending on the nature of their disabilities. On the other hand, some students with disabilities blossom in alternative school settings.

High School options. In addition to all of the above variants, additional choices often face high school students. These include advanced college preparation programs such as International Baccalaureate (a national program of intense academic work) and vocationally targeted programs that prepare students for specific career skills (e.g., auto mechanics, sales and marketing, computer programming).

back - next

Parenting Start