The Division of Alternative Education is designed to implement a three tiered framework for providing instructional/behavioral supports and interventions for students experiencing barriers to learning.  The Division is comprised of the Offices of Evening High School, Summer School and Twilight School; the Office of Home and Hospital Teaching; Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and Charter Schools. 

The vision of the Division of Alternative Education is to ”Build Bridges not Walls”, in order to facilitate the academic success and behavioral growth necessary to ensure college and career readiness.

Supports and interventions include:

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) PBIS provides an operational framework for achieving positive academic and behavior outcomes for all students. PBIS is not a program or a curriculum,  but  is a decision making structure that guides selection, integration, and implementation of the best evidence-based academic and behavioral practices for students.  PBIS emphasizes a systems approach for: school-wide, classroom, non-classroom (hallways, restrooms, cafeteria, and playgrounds), individual students, and families.  School rules and expectations are developed and taught, feedback is provided  through acknowledgements, and student behaviors are continuously monitored.  

J. Albert Adams Academy (alternative middle school) J. Albert Adams Academy is a public alternative education program serving 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. Adams Academy is a safe, structured, and supportive environment that will foster academic achievement, social skills, self-discovery, and personal growth in all of our students.

Mary E. Moss Academy ( alternative high school) Mary E. Moss Academy is a public, alternative education program serving 9th & 10th grade students. The staff at Mary Moss provides a safe and structured environment, dedicated to partnering with families and the community to provide high quality academic and behavioral support services to students who have experienced barriers to learning in their previous academic setting. 

Evening High School The Evening High School is an alternative high school instructional program.  Anyone who is under 21 and interested in completing a high school education may attend, as well as students currently enrolled in a regular daytime high school program.  Credits earned by successful completion of courses in Evening High School count toward fulfilling requirements for obtaining the Maryland High School Diploma. 

Twilight School is available to high school students who have been unsuccessful in the first half of a year-long course to recoup first semester credit and receive additional assistance so they will not fall behind in the second half of the year.

Summer School The secondary summer school program provides students the opportunity to:
 

• make up work in which they were unsuccessful

• improve grade averages in sequential subjects

• earn credits to meet high school graduation requirements

Middle College High School @ Sojourner Douglass College (SDC) - Middle College High Schools are community collaborations between school districts and colleges, parents and business representatives throughout the United States. Middle College High Schools are traditionally small and provide a rigorous academic curriculum within a supportive and nurturing environment to a student population that has been historically underserved and underrepresented in colleges. Ninth grade retention is a prime indicator of students at risk of dropping out of high school. In an effort to enhance the graduation rates at Annapolis High School, first time 9th graders at risk for 9th grade retention are identified and apply to the Middle College at SDC. SDC and AACPS work collaboratively to provide instructional and student support services for students who demonstrate a need for an alternative path to a high school graduation.  These services offer a project-centered, interdisciplinary curriculum with an emphasis on team teaching, individualized attention and development of critical thinking skills.

Home and Hospital Teaching – This is a short term itinerant instructional service that is provided to students when they are unable to attend school due to a medical or emotional condition. Home and Hospital teaching is provided to enable the student to continue academic work and remain current with classroom instruction while recuperating at home, in a therapeutic center, or in a hospital while convalescing or receiving treatment.

Teen Parent Alternative Program (TPAP) is partnership between AACPS and the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services, located at 80 West Street in Annapolis, Maryland. The program provides educational and support services to teen parents enrolled in TPAP.  Support Services include on-site childcare, case management, parenting skills, career exploration, job readiness/employment services, transportation, health education, parent-child activities and life skills. Educational Services include academic programming, academic support, attendance monitoring, screening and referral of students.

Evening Middle School - The purpose of Evening Middle School (EMS) is to provide middle school-aged students who are meeting the terms of a disciplinary sanction, a safe and supportive environment in which the students can learn and be successful. The Evening Middle School supports student individuality, strengths, needs and goals, while fostering student respect for self and others, and providing clear behavioral expectations which are closely monitored, evaluated and reinforced. It is the goal of the Evening Middle School to assist each student to:

Elluminate Virtual Learning Community – This program is asynchronous virtual interface, for live classroom sessions. The program is connected with Blackboard and allows for live student teacher instructional interactions; break out groups, labs, tutoring, meetings, etc. This program allows students to attend classes and keep up with the curriculum being taught in the classroom while recuperating from an illness.

Pathways Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program – Through a partnership between AACPS and Pathways, an educational component is provided for students who are participating in the Pathways drug and alcohol inpatient program. Students from throughout the state of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia, who are inpatient, attend school every day in order to maintain pace with their classmates.

Alternative Education Services at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center at Jennifer Road – Alternative Education services are provided to incarcerated students if they receive Special Education services and for those students under the age of 16.

Behavior Support Teams - Decision Making Rooms (DMR), Student Advocates, Alternative One Teacher)

Public Charter Schools

Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice. Publicly funded and open to all students with no admission testing or screening. Each school has a charter, or performance contract, detailing its program, goals, and methods of assessment. Charter schools operate with increased autonomy in exchange for accountability. They are accountable for both academic results and fiscal practices to several groups: the authorizer that grants the charter, the parents who choose to send their children, and the public that funds them.

Anne Arundel County Public Schools has two operating charter schools Monarch Academy Public Charter School and Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School

Expanded School Based Mental Health services  provided by Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Villa Maria Health Services, and the Children’s Guild.