Alternative Education

Alternative Education

An alternative education program is provided at the high school level through the Headwaters Program. The purpose of alternative education is to provide a high school environment for students at-risk of not graduating, and for other students that could profit from high school education in an alternative setting. Headwaters is located in the old Connections Building across the street from the main Crater campus.

The Headwaters Program runs under an alternative schedule that begins in the mid-afternoon and runs into the evening. The program is geared to provide instruction in core academic areas that leads to accrual of credits and progress toward graduation from Crater High School. In addition, elective credits are awarded for other classroom activities, including physical education, vocational preparation and industrial arts. Headwaters students maintain their affiliation with the three small schools comprising the Crater campus. Students are provided appropriate opportunities to enroll in regular Crater classes to enhance credit accrual, and provide an opportunity to re-integrate themselves into a regular high school schedule. Headwaters has been operating for several years now and has enhanced its close relationship with the Crater schools so that students have a greater opportunity to move between a regular and an alternative program schedule. This program has been very successful for students requiring an alternative program, with nearly 30 students graduating with a regular Crater diploma in its first year of operation.

Additionally, Headwaters runs a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) preparation program for students appropriate for this alternative. Students are provided small group and individualized support in the GED preparation curriculum leading to the final diploma examinations. This has been a very popular program for students with significant credit deficiency difficulties.

Placement decisions for both of these alternative programs are made by the Student Study Teams in all three Crater Schools. Referrals for consideration can be made to the principal of the assigned school.