In North Carolina, Alternative Learning Programs (ALP) is a designation applied to a variety of activities, locations, and student characteristics. This report focuses on descriptive information about the state's ALP efforts, teachers, and the students they serve. Two hundred and fifteen schools and programs met the evaluation criteria as ALPs. Seventy-five identified themselves as alternative schools, while 140 identified themselves as alternative programs. Half of all the ALPs relied on the state for at least three-quarters of their support. The predominant ALP setting was a separate classroom in an existing school (41%). In general, students served in an ALP were at-risk students, and about half of middle and high school students had repeated one or more grades. Although the ALPs have multiple goals, they almost universally included academic achievement with a strong emphasis on self-esteem and social behaviors. A significant portion of the ALPs do not serve long-term suspended students, expelled students, or exceptional students, raising the question of how needs of these groups are being met. Most students had achieved "desirable" status by the time they exited the program, but many students had not. It was not possible to determine whether the percentage of students kept in schools was higher than it would be without the ALPs, but it is evident that a genuine effort is being made by many programs. Two appendixes contain evaluation questions asked and a discussion of the method for estimating the number of ALP teachers. (Contains 5 figures and 32 tables.) (SLD)