Graduate Program

Educational Administration

Degree Name

Education Specialist (EdS)

Semester of Degree Completion

1977

Thesis Director

Donald W. Smitley

Abstract

During the past few years, the phrase “public alternative education” has been sounded in various educational circles throughout the United States, and has been the focal point of numerous professional seminars and conferences. Many schools have initiated alternative education models and many others are considering adopting the idea.

Alternative schools, by definition, come in many different shapes and sizes and with varying objectives and philosophies. That students and/or parents have a choice in selecting an educational program is basic to all. Alternative schools recognize that different students may perform better in different types of educational settings and therefore, they stress variety rather than uniformity. They are organized in many different ways with various types of student bodies, but all involve the total educational program.

Tile purpose of this field study is three-fold. First of all, the writer will provide the reader with a general knowledge of educational alternatives - its history, philosophies, objectives, and designs. Secondly, the writer will give the reader an idea of the broad array of choices that have been developed in the State of Illinois within recent years with respect to the secondary alternative education movement. And thirdly, the writer will define and construct an alternative education model which the writer believes can be adopted at Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills, Illinois.

The major activities involved in the development of this field study report include:

  1. Data collected from: library research; correspondence with selected alternative schools; interviews; attendance at the Sixth Annual Quincy Conference
  2. Establishment of identified critical needs.
  3. Development of the writer's alternative education plan.

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