Family & Community
Alternative Learning Options

	Alternative Education Alternative Education is an approach offered to "at-risk" students in a nontraditional setting. Alternative Education includes self-contained public schools as well as programs affiliated with a school (or schools).
	Career/Vocational Technical Education Career/vocational technical education programs are offered by many high schools across Massachusetts.
	Charter Schools A charter school is a public school that is managed by a board of trustees and operates independently of any school committee under a five-year charter granted by the Board of Education.
	Community Service Learning Community Service-Learning is an instructional methodology, used in both traditional and non-traditional school settings, that integrates community service into the curriculum.
	General Educational Development (GED) The GED Tests provide the opportunity to earn a Massachusetts High School Equivalency Diploma, accepted by nearly all colleges, universities, and employers in the United States
	Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives (MOEC) Educational Collaboratives provide inter-district services to students with handicaps, gifted and talented students, students in need of vocational/occupational training, and to regular education students seeking enriched experiences outside the classroom setting.
	Private SPED Placement The Program Quality Assurance office maintains a directory of private day and residential special education schools which meet Massachusetts' approval requirements.
	Proprietary Schools Proprietary schools are privately owned and operated post-secondary schools organized as either a non-profit or a profit-making venture primarily to teach vocational skills. The Department regulates business, trade, and correspondence schools.
	School Choice The school choice program allows parents to send their children to schools in communities other than the city or town in which they reside. Tuition is paid by the sending district to the receiving district. Districts may elect not to enroll school choice students if no space is available.