More students than ever are expected to graduate high school, but there are still many students that won’t earn a diploma.

Some students don’t learn well in a traditional school setting or are dealing with life circumstances that make it difficult to do so, says Sandy Addis, director of the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network at Clemson University.

These students may need a different setting, a different pace or a different time to learn. Effective alternative education, while not a new idea, can give these students another path to high school graduation, he says.

It’s also one of the center’s 15 effective strategies for dropout prevention.

Options for alternative schooling can include evening school or self-paced schooling, for example. A program might also be on a college campus, he says.

In Nashville, students ages 17 to 21 at risk of not graduating or who need to graduate quickly to focus on their family or other outside needs can earn their diploma at three Simon Youth Academies located throughout the district, says Bill Warren, executive lead principal for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, who oversees the program.

“It’s a smaller setting where they have more support. They have the ability to formulate meaningful connections with the faculty, and we are really involved in their lives,” he says. “They get it and they understand that we are here to help them.”

[Find out how mentoring programs aim to increase high school graduates.]

Students can take classes year-round and hours are flexible, so students who have jobs or children can work school around their schedules, he says.

While operated by the district, the academies are funded by Simon Youth Foundation, a nonprofit closely affiliated with Simon Malls, which also provides scholarship opportunities to the students. The organization funds more than 20 of these academies across the country and many of them, including one of the academies in Nashville, are housed inside the company’s malls.

Since the academies opened in Nashville six years ago, more than 2,000 students have graduated, says Warren. And most of these students normally wouldn’t have graduated, he says.

Students with disabilities may benefit from alternative schooling, too. These students graduate at a much lower rate than all students.

STEM^3 Academy in Valley Glen, California, is a new school for students with social and learning differences, including autism. While the school is nonpublic, students with disabilities may be placed there by their public school district.

“Often, these are students who are little bit different, a little bit quirky, a little bit idiosyncratic,” says Ellis Crasnow, director of the school. Some of these students are super bright, he says, but some of them are ostracized by their peers and don’t necessarily fit in well. They often have difficulty socializing and a large school can provoke anxiety.

The school focuses on STEM — topics that people on the autism spectrum typically have an affinity for, says Crasnow. There’s also many job opportunities in these fields, which could be a good fit for people with special needs, as most are either underemployed or unemployed, he says.

Teachers at the school focus on what students can do — not what they can’t do — and allow students to take charge of their learning, he says.

During the school’s pilot program last year, 100 percent of students graduated with either a diploma or a certificate, he says.

But if these students were at a traditional high school, Crasnow thinks outcomes would have been different — not necessarily for academic reasons, but for social and emotional reasons. These students typically need more support in these areas than the public system is able to provide, he says.

[Read about three challenges facing parents of teens with learning disabilities.]

The quality of alternative education nationwide varies, says Addis of the NDPC.

But when it is done well, alternative schooling tends to be more expensive.

“It’s a great idea. It’s not a new idea. It’s one that takes a little effort, takes a little creativity, may need a little outside help, but if done right, it can be done very well,” Addis says.

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Alternative Schooling Can Offer Teens Another Path to Graduation originally appeared on usnews.com