Both time and circumstance have convinced many a school district that it must find a better way to educate its students. For many districts the way has been alternative schools and programs that offer students a choice of goals, structures, and approaches to curriculum. One report estimated that as many as 5,000 alternative schools would be in operation by September of 1975. The National School Boards Association in surveying a sample of its members in 1975 found about 25 percent offered options in their districts; 66 percent in districts with more than 25,000 students offered options. The report concluded that the alternative school concept is definitely not on the fringe of American public school activity. A number of programs that are representative of how alternatives respond to some of the central issues in American education are described. How students are benefiting from the strengths of alternative schools and what educators are doing to circumvent the hazards are the core of this report. (Author/MLF)