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RACHEL REABE: Meghan McGill is 17 years old. A straight A student. She's looking forward to prom and high school graduation, followed by college in the fall. But Meghan says if it hadn't have been for the alternative program, offered at Cass Lake's area learning center, she could have wound up a high school dropout.

MEGHAN MCGILL: It wasn't working for me in the mainstream high school. I just-- something had to change. Something had to give.

RACHEL REABE: Meghan opted out of Walker High school, choosing instead to drive 40 miles to attend the area learning center in Cass Lake.

MEGHAN MCGILL: There's no such thing as failing up here. I mean, maybe there's a subject you have to work harder at, but everything is geared to your needs and your abilities. So they challenge you, but at the same time, they don't overwhelm you.

RACHEL REABE: In Minnesota, most of the alternative programs are offered by school districts at area learning centers. Although the legislature formally established area learning centers in 1987 as part of the school choice package, many districts had been offering alternative education for years.

Designed for students who weren't making it in the mainstream school setting, area learning centers have seen tremendous growth. 40,000 students attend 400 area learning centers. Personalized instruction is the foundation of alternative education. Students work under the guidance of teachers who track their progress. Cass Lake area Learning Center director Patty Hosch says it's a more relaxed learning environment.

PATTY HOSCH: We're on a much more personal basis with the students. We talk, spend a lot of time visiting with them. They open up to us. A lot of their personal issues come out. And that's really a lot to do with why students aren't succeeding necessarily in the mainstream setting.

RACHEL REABE: Cass Lake's ALC operates out of a former church building. The sanctuary has been converted into a Study Center where a handful of students work quietly at round tables. In the corner of the room, a dark haired baby sleeps in a portable crib, while his mother, 17-year-old Carrie Kingbird, looks up information on a computer. She says ALC has allowed her the flexibility to continue her education.

CARRIE KINGBIRD: They see that I am a single parent living on my own, 17 years old. They see that it's difficult for me sometimes.

RACHEL REABE: Before the Cass Lake-Bena School District established the area learning center in 1987, 60% of the Indian students dropped out before graduating from high school. District Indian Education director Luann Frazier says last year they reached an all time low Indian student dropout rate of 15%.

LUANN FRAZIER: We have to have this program. It's essential to our kids and our community. A lot of our students who normally would have dropped out of school were coming to the ALC and finishing school, you know, in their own time and in their own way.

RACHEL REABE: Despite these successes, alternative programs have not been wholeheartedly embraced by mainstream educators. Cass Lake director Patty Hosch, who also heads the state association for alternative programs, says they still feel like the forgotten child.

PATTY HOSCH: There's this myth out there that we're somehow less of a program. And so people question the quality of the students. But what's ironic about it is that I believe that we keep them more accountable, because they don't get the credit unless they've earned it, as opposed to enrolling in a high school, and because you show up, you're going to get a D or an F. That's unacceptable to us.

RACHEL REABE: Hosch says their state organization is working to make sure alternative programs receive the kind of support and funding they deserve. Once seen as the last hope for poor students and dropouts, Jeanne Johnson of the State Department of Education says attitudes toward ALCs are changing.

JEANNE JOHNSON: I think it's being looked at more of a positive option, and that students there that have problems are not problem students. Alternatives, charter schools, regular schools, whatever, there are different types of needs of students, there are different types of schools they need. And they should look at this as another type of education in Minnesota.

RACHEL REABE: Enrollment in the state's area learning centers has jumped 300% in the past five years. Clearly, it's meeting a need for students. But it's by no means an easier route to a high school diploma. Although ALC students might attend school just one day a week to go over their assignments with teachers, they still have to complete the coursework.

LES SANDERS: Any questions on that? Did it all come fairly easy?

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah, it was OK. You know, I had a few troubles here and there, but I figured it out.

LES SANDERS: --all worked out?

JOHN SNYDER: Yeah.

RACHEL REABE: Cass Lake ALC teacher Les Sanders is going over John Snyder's science work. They sit. Together in a small room with a single table. Pots of seedlings under grow lights line the counter. Snyder is just two credits away from the high school diploma he needs to join the army. Sanders assures Snyder he's answered the workbook questions correctly and assigns him the rest of the chapters. Teaching at an ALC is a whole new experience, according to Sanders. Here, relationships take precedence over rules.

LES SANDERS: A lot of these kids do have problems, and before they can settle in and do the education, a lot of times we need to take care of the problems. We need to sit and discuss those with them and give them ideas.

RACHEL REABE: Over a third of Minnesota's school districts operate area learning centers, either independently or in cooperation with another district. They also serve students from neighboring districts. ALCs operate year round and often offer evening hours. Some students use the program to catch up on a few credits or redo a failed class. Others, like Megan McGill, attend full time. She says the ALC is more like the real world.

MEGHAN MCGILL: You're taking responsibility for you. If you don't get your work done, if you miss so many appointments, you're dropped. That's goodbye to you. And you have to wait 30 days to re-enroll. It's up to you. It's your responsibility.

RACHEL REABE: Meghan will be among the estimated 7,000 Minnesota students earning high school diplomas this year through alternative programs. She says now she can concentrate on the future and whether to be a judge, a marine biologist, or a counselor. I'm Rachel Reabe for Mainstreet Radio.