Applications for admission are not accepted by phone. We recommend that prospective students and their parents tour our campus and become informed about our teaching methodology prior to enrolling. Although ALL provides a state approved comprehensive curriculum, our instructional process and curriculum design are innovative and include academic options not available at other educational institutions. Please do not expect classrooms or educational practices reminiscent of the 1950s. Although students and staff use first names, and the ambiance at ALL academic achievement is emphasized and scholarly pursuits are valued. ALL provides a learning environment which will produce significant and rapid intellectual growth for those students whose families are serious abut education and scholarly achievement. While intellectual prowess is not related to how fast students complete their work, some very bright children may need more time-on-task. Please be aware that we implement many strategies to accommodate students who need help developing academic discipline or efficient study skills, including Saturday school, working lunches, academic development class, etc. We view effective education as a partnership between parents, students, and the school community. Parents are expected to be involved and supportive of the significant effort invested by students and staff. Being a parent is seldom convenient. Being the parent of a student at ALL is vigorously stimulating. Please ensure that your expectations are consistent with our practices. Admission is not based on ethnicity, national origin, English language proficiency, gender, athletic ability, disabling condition, income, or domicile. Provisions are often made to accommodate families with special circumstances or needs.
Children with special needs are welcome. Please be aware that we view pullout programs as particularly destructive for special needs students. We prefer to help children acquire the integration and adaptation skills required to function in mainstream society. We prefer intervention prior to labeling. We prefer to treat handicaps as one of the plethora of personal differences for which one compensates and members of respectable society accommodate. We are of the opinion that labeling a special needs child as ‘ED’ can accentuate the disability, is disrespectful, alienating, and counterproductive. We do not view mild “handicaps” as excuses but as challenges to compensate for and overcome. We prefer to error on the side of too much expectation of student ability rather than too little. We will not accept a disabling condition as validation for discarding or warehousing a child. We have high expectations for all of our students including disabled students. While considering ALL please bear in mind our policy of inclusion, least restrictive learning environment, and accommodation of special needs students within the normal classroom setting. Eligible applicants must not be younger than 5 by September 1. Children between the ages of 3 through 5 may benefit by enrolling in our Preschool.
Capacity is limited. Admission preference is given to returning students and siblings of pupils already enrolled. Returning students are automatically enrolled for the following year. Returning students are not required to re-apply each year, however if a student withdraws, the student will be treated as a newly applying student. If the number of applications exceeds the capacity of our program, class, grade level or building, applicants will be placed on a waiting list in order of the date the application was stamped “completed”. For an application to be considered complete; an application for enrollment must be completed, the student and/or parents must tour the campus, the student must complete required “academic placement evaluations”, the student and/or parents most have completed the interview/orientation interview. After all of the prior requirements have been met, the student’s first day of attendance signifies the completion of enrollment. In late summer, prior to the first day of school, an “Open House” is often held for returning families and new families. Much of the application process can be completed at that time. Additionally, this provides prospective families opportunity to speak with returning families about the nature of ALL and character of its staff. A good-faith effort will be made to contact, by telephone, each eligible applicant in listed order. However, it is the parents’ or student’s responsibility to remain in contact with the school and insure that they have not missed our call. If we are unable to reach the applicant by telephone the opening will be offered to the next applicant on the waiting list. It is advisable that parents of students on the waiting list occasionally check applicant status. Openings sporadically occur during the academic year. Applications may be submitted up to 3 years in advance (to insure admission) but the application must be reactivated each year in order that applicants maintain their place on the waiting list. Waiting list reactivations must occur between May 1 and May 15.
Applicants are not required to pass a qualifying exam to qualify for admission. However, as part of the application process, students are evaluated with several instruments to help determine appropriate placement. Many factors are considered for proper placement and not all become apparent before a student is observed within a classroom setting. Some adjustments should be expected throughout the school year. Some students may be transferred between classes to achieve the best possible placement. Parents and students may provide input on the selection of a teacher but preferences are honored only if they are consistent with other indicators of the best academic placement.