Decoding Alternative Education

The East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) is proud to have co-authored Decoding Alternative Education: Student Demographics, Coursework and Budgeting in the Five Largest California County Offices of Education & Tools for Transparency with the ACLU of Southern California and the National Center for Youth Law.

Authors found a lack of publicly available information regarding the curriculum and standards within California’s County Offices of Education-run alternative schools, which serve a disproportionate number of youth who are Black, Native American, unhoused, in foster care, or on juvenile probation. The report calls on policymakers to require greater transparency and accountability in regard to curriculum, credentialing, and budgets in order to advocate for our most vulnerable students.  

“We have found that these schools are not upfront about how they use their funding to help students and that the quality of education is concerningly low,” said EDJY Co-director and report co-author Atasi Uppal. “It is our hope that families and advocates can use the tools in this report to demand more transparency and equity in county alternative schools.”  

Click here to view the full report