oratories, music rooms, libraries and meet-
ing spaces.
Other students benefit from the more
loosely-regimented version of “seat-time”
inherent to nonclassroom-based instruction.
For example, nonclassroom-based education
may focus on dropout recovery, providing a
second chance to students pursuing a high
school diploma, but who have not been suc-
cessful in other settings. Still other families
opt for nonclassroom-based education to
provide different extracurricular opportuni-
ties for their child to travel, engage in the
arts, or pursue passions such as gymnastics
or music. Nonclassroom-based programs
are rarely cookie-cutter, and offer innovative
options meeting a variety of student needs.
Challenges of the model
Nonclassroom-based education faces
certain challenges – often stemming from
the untethered nature of the nonclass-
room-based model. In September 2016,
one month before the Anderson decision, a
Washington Post article dubbed California’s
nonclassroom-based charter school sector
“the Wild West.” Underpinning this moni-
ker was a f lurry of lawsuits asserting that
some nonclassroom-based charter schools
operated in violation of the Charter Schools
Act, often without sufficient oversight from
the chartering authority. The article ob-
served that some of these charter schools
lacked accountability from their authorizers,
related to compliance with the law or meet-
ing the instructional standards promised by
their charter petitions.
Whether operated as a charter school or
not, nonclassroom-based programs by their
nature are more challenging to oversee, due
to the extreme flexibility in the attendance
accounting structure, leading to account-
ability concerns. But quality oversight is
achievable and, in spite of these challenges,
nonclassroom-based education seems here
to stay. Given the demand for these pro-
grams, school districts are looking to de -
velop strong nonclassroom-based models to
strengthen student outcomes.
Programs of the future
As public school systems increasingly
compete for student “market share,” school
leaders consider the role that nonclassroom-
based education might play within their
educational portfolio. Some suggest that a
key benefit of nonclassroom-based educa-
tion is its potential to break the public school
“monopoly” and increase competition for
students in the educational marketplace.
Putting aside these realities of the educa-
tion business, nonclassroom-based options
afford school administrators critical tools
to offer choice-based programs that are
both competitive and innovative. The focus,
thus, shifts to how school leaders can create
systems of choice that work for all families
within a district.
By taking the lead in developing non-
classroom-based models, school leaders are
empowered to define educational perfor-
mance, scope of services, and determine how
resources will flow. This allows educators to
adapt to the needs of their students and cre-
ate learning options that best fit community
needs. Although no two nonclassroom-based
options are alike, they generally take the form
of either district schools or charter schools.
Under a nonclassroom-based charter
model, school leaders may authorize a “de-
pendent” charter school within the school
district’s portfolio, or may partner with a
nonprofit organization to authorize an “in-
dependent” charter school. Although not
defined in the Charter Schools Act, these
terms generally define the scope of a rela-
tionship between charter school and autho-
rizer, and provide different mechanisms for
governance. Each model has its own advan-
tages, and schools will need to determine the
choice that best suits their operational goals.
Non-charter programs offer another op-
tion. For decades, the Legislature has enabled
school districts to offer students traditional
independent study alternatives. Although
school districts are not required to offer in-
dependent study, those that do may offer a
variety of formats. Independent study may
be offered in a home-based format, an online
model, as a program or class within a compre-
hensive school, through an alternative school
or program of choice, or as an accommoda-
tion for students who travel, among other
options. As such, non-charter independent
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Leadership