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The following papers give an overview of the Regional Education Alternative Learning (REAL) School based at Windham, Maine in the USA.  It examines the programs and directions implemented by the school in 2000 and places these approaches alongside a broader look at Alternative Education and Models of Stage Based Change.  It is the intended to provide the reader with both a basic understanding of the framework for alternative education and the place of REAL School as an effective example of this framework in action.

The papers included look at the History of the REAL school and the rationale for it's establishment;, an overview of Alternative Education;, a Review of the REAL School programs that operated in 1999/2000; an outline for implementing therapeutic adventure experiences into the support structure of the REAL School to address issues raised by the lack of motivation and commitment from students coming into the school; and a paper looking at the implications that a Model for Stage Based Change has in the direction of alternative education in general and the programs of the REAL School.

Any comments or questions from this discussion is greatly valued.  The area of alternative education, while long standing and firmly entrenched within education practice, has always battled to overcome problems of isolation and the relative independence needed to manage such programs.  As support is not always forthcoming from the systems in which it is established, the support of practitioners linked by common thoughts and goals is needed to ensure that programs receive the feedback and evaluation necessary to maintain their effectiveness and success.