CHARLOTTESVILLE ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL

i A way of organizing schools that uses individual student progress, rather than age or grade level, to determine when students move from one stage of schooling to another. In an ungraded (also called nongraded) primary school, some students take longer than others to move into 4th grade from a primary-level multi-age classroom (kindergarten through 3rd grade). Students are not classified by grade levels and not evaluated using traditional letter grades (A, B, C, D, F), but their achievement is carefully monitored.

i A public elementary/secondary school that (1) addresses needs of students that typically cannot be met in a regular school, (2) provides nontraditional education, (3) serves as an adjunct to a regular school, or (4) falls outside the categories of regular, special education, or vocational education.

i A school or institution controlled and operated by publicly elected or appointed officials and deriving its primary support from public funds.

i An education agency at the local level that exists primarily to operate public schools or to contract for public school services. Synonyms are “local basic administrative unit” and “local education agency.”