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Defining Education

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The Education Commission of the United States was created to “improve public information by facilitating the exchange of information, ideas, and experiences among state policymakers and education leaders.” (www.ecs.org) The ECS provides information on state and country educational policies and to inform the general population of the policies and what they are about and how they are expected to be withheld. (www.ecs.org) One policy issue defined by the organization is Alternative Education. The ECS definition of Alternative Education is “providing choice and opportunity to students who have not had successful experiences in school.” (www.ecs.org) The ECS defines two basic types of Alternative Education schools: the first is the students who are “at-risk” who are not successful in a traditional setting, this is a choice alternative school; the second is for students with discipline problems or that have disruptive behavior, this is not a choice alternative school. (www.ecs.org) There are a number of policy issues that the ECS addresses having to do with Alternative Education. The first is adequate funding. Adequate funding does not only include the funding of the teaching staff, but other support staff that might need to be used in an alternative school more than a regular school, such as counseling or services from school psychologists, child care, or support staff to help transition discipline students back into the traditional classroom. Secondly, experienced and specialized personnel are an issue addressed. Teachers and staff of an alternative school seem to be a diverse population that prefers to teach in the at-risk setting; these teachers usually have high levels of empathy and creativity balanced with the capability to help students understand the importance of learning. Third, individualized curriculum. Curriculum should be made to be

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