If we taught children to speak, they'd never learn.
--William Hull

Table of Contents
An Introduction
The Intent of the Paper
A Summary of the History of Alternative Education 3
Classical-Realism 3
Romanticism 3
Teacher-centered vs Child-centered 4
Other European Reformers 4
School Reformers of the 1800s in America 4
The Progressive Education Movement in America before WW II 5
The Progress Movement after WW II 5
The "Romantics" of the 1960s 6
Indiana's Contributions to Change 6
The Civil Rights Movement and Alternative Education 7
The Proliferation of Alternatives: The 1970s 8
Desegregation and Alternative Schools: The Magnet Concept 9
The 1980s: The Decade of Extremes 9
The 1990s: The Continuing Evolution of Alternative Education 10
Alternative Education Since 1930: Conclusions and Questions 12

The Political Psychology of Alternatives: The Rationalizations of the Status Quo 12
Type I Popular Innovations 12
Type II Last Chance Programs 13
Type III Remedial Focus 13
Why Does Alternative Education Have a Negative Image?: The
Ideas of Deirdre Kelly 13
Continuation Schools and Alternative Schools 15
Alternative Schools' Negative Image: The Ideas of Mary Anne
Raywid 16
Broken Kid vs Broken System 17
Special Issues in Alternative Education: The Ideas of Bill
Johnston and Karen Wetherill 19
Educational Alternatives Not Alternative Education: The
Ideas of Don Glines 20
What Went Wrong: The Spoiling of Alternative
Education's Image 21
Meeting the Needs of At-Risk Students is Not Enough: The
Research of Paula Groves 23
Are Type II/III Alternatives Actually Wolves in Sheep's
Clothing?: The Accusations of Richard Sagor 24
Consequence of a Policy 25
"Spoiled Image" Problems 25
Learning From Those Who Have Failed: The Conclusions of Amy
Bauman 26
Bauman's Concluding Thoughts 26
Does This Mean All Alternatives Are Bad? 27

How Can We Avoid the Negative Image? 27
Putting the Horse Back In Front of the Cart 28
Looking Forward: The Indiana Connection, the ISTA. Connection… 28
Why Alternative Schools Work and "Why Don't They Understand" 28
From a Type II to a Type I Alternative: Lakeside, A School of Choice. Our Choice 30
How Choice Works 31
So Why Don't They Get the Message?: One Administrator Talks to others 32
Meeting the Needs of All Students While Stigmatizing None:
The Suggestions of Richard Sagor 33
Avoiding the "Spoiled Image" 33
Philosophy Not Politics: The Suggestions of Don Glines 34
How to Remove Alternative Education's Negative (Self-) Image:
The Ideas and Suggestions of Tom Gregory 35
People Issues 37
Identity Issues 38
Equity and Parity Issues 38
Programmatic Issues 39
A Summary of Gregory's Ideas and Suggestions: The Barriers Within 39
The Suggestions of Robert D. Barr and. William Parrett 40
A System of Schools, Not a School System: Two Publication's
Positive Image of Alternative Education 42
Involving More African-Americans in Alternative Education:
Continuing the Legacy 43
Schooling vs Education 45
Alternative Education: Different Ways to Learn, Different Ways to Evaluate Learning 46
Alternative Education: Learning Styles, Alternative Assessment, and Democratizing Our Concept of
Human Intelligence 48

Conclusions: Alternative Education Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 50
"We Cannot Ignore Alternatives" 50
Alternative High Schools: Models for the Future? 50
Another Model for the Future: A K-12 Year-Round Education School 51
Better Public Relations: Two Approaches 52
Best Practices: "The (too) Quiet Revolution" 53
Educational Testing: To Standardize or Customize Assessment 53
Educational Alternatives: "...the importance of expanding options in the public school setting"
and Polishing the Image of Alternative Education 54
A Parallel System of Educational Alternatives: A vision 54
Sustaining Change: How Do We Make Lasting Improvements? 55

In Closing... 57

References