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Arkansas education officials describe Alternative Learning Environments as intervention-focused; committee requests more data on outcomes and monitoring
Summary
Deputy Commissioner Stacy Smith and ALE program manager Jared Hogue told the committee ALEs are intended as intervention programs with required placement committees, student action plans, monitoring on a three-year cycle, and funding tied to 20 consecutive days of placement; staff reported 11,000 students served and 77% graduation among twelfth-graders placed in ALE.
Stacy Smith, Deputy Commissioner at the Arkansas Department of Education, and Jared Hogue, ALE program manager, presented an overview of Alternative Learning Environments to the Senate Education Committee, emphasizing that ALEs are intended as interventions rather than punitive placements.
"A lot of people have in their mind that ALE is this punitive place that you send kids that are bad," Smith said. "...that's not what alternative learning environments are supposed to be."
Smith and Hogue described placement criteria (students must meet at least two indicators such as academic struggles, trauma, frequent relocation, homelessness, high absenteeism or disruptive behavior) and explained that placement decisions are made by an Alternative Education Placement Committee that includes the school counselor, administrators, classroom teachers familiar with the…
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