Alternative Learning Center undergoes new changes
The St. Croix Valley Alternative Learning Center underwent many changes for the 2016-2017 school year, including getting new start times to align it with the High School’s schedule. There is also a principal at the ALC full time, rather than part time. The ALC will also move to an existing school once its current lease is up.
Students who need an alternative learning environment may succeed in the ALC due to small classroom sizes and lower student to teacher ratios. The ALC is an alternative to the High School, meaning it is a place for students who could not succeed in the big High School. The ALC also offers credit recovery options and gives students the opportunity to use an online curriculum known as Edgeunity.
The new start times in the ALC align with the high school’s schedule. The ALC now has a six-period day, and it starts and ends when the high school ends. Students at the ALC get a break after two periods and lunch after four.
Principal Mary Leadem Ticiu said, “We have a new schedule with a break after two periods.”
New changes give students more flexibility during the day, and they take advantage of it. The schedule change also allows for much more personalized learning.
Para professional Jackie Henschen stated, “Students are now given the opportunity for a more individualized learning plan.”
In addition to the changes to the daily schedule, the ALC opted to use longer terms this year. Teachers could not keep up with the shorter terms because they were teaching up to four different courses in one hour, and keeping grades up to date was difficult.
Ticiu said, “It is very hard to use Skyward as a data supporting system. Parents question how their students are doing, teachers have to teach multiple classes in an hour.”
The ALC has a smaller student base than the high school. Classes are smaller and teachers teach multiple classes at one time. The changes at the ALC this year have had their advantages, but they have also had some negatives due to the fact that teachers are teaching multiple lessons in an hour.
Ticiu said, “We changed to quarters rather than the six week terms we used last year.”
The ALC now has a principal on location full time rather than just part time. This change started this year because that a principal was needed at certain times when one wasn’t present. Ticiu is the full-time principal at the ALC, and she has worked in the school district since 2000.
“We were in a major reform, we now have a principal in the building every day,” Ticiu said, “We had a broken system, students were not earning credit and teachers were managing behavior.”
More changes for the ALC are coming, as it will soon be forced to move from the current building it occupies across the street from the high school as soon as their lease is up.
Ticiu said, “As a result of the bond two years ago the superintendent at the time did make a decision to close leased properties to save funds so this ALC must relocate to an existing school property where there is space for our alternative program. We will be taking a highly successful student program across the street, we need to be well prepared for these students to continue to be successful.”
becca jordan • Dec 19, 2016 at 12:55 pm
I selected this article because i was curious on how they decided to improve the ALC. It was a very informative article and was very well written with great sources
Ceci Charlsen • Dec 1, 2016 at 12:53 pm
I selected this article because I was wondering what kinds of changes were happening in the ALC, and I had a lack of an understanding of what the ALC was and what its purpose was. It informed me very well and gave good resources to help further my understanding. It was a good read and helped inform me and others.
Ceci Charlsen • Dec 1, 2016 at 12:51 pm
I selected this article because I was curious as to what changes the ALC is undergoing, because we do not receive much of this information at the High School. It informed me very well and used a language that was easy to understand. It was an interesting read and got me very up to date on the occurring changes.
Audra Risberg • Nov 21, 2016 at 11:54 am
I chose this article because I didn’t know anything about what the ALC was. All the sources are trustworthy, and I learned about how the ALC used to be,and how it is now after the changes.
Adam Humpal • Nov 20, 2016 at 6:29 pm
Overall I thought it was a very good article. However, I found the quotes to be a little bland, which is understandable because there did not seem to be that much information about the changes yet. One of the things I liked about the article was that is was informative despite there not appearing to be that much information available at the time, though at times it was a little repetitive.
Tiana Meador • Nov 17, 2016 at 9:04 am
This article is very informative and shows reputability with the sources cited. However, I feel there was potential for more in depth descriptions of how they plan to make these changes. Regardless though, I understand that the plans are in the works and there may not be more information than what was released. Very informative article.