A History of Our Building

Ray Street Academy opened its doors for the 2012-2013 school year and welcomed new students into a redesigned alternative educational program.  The school is located at 609 Ray Street in Graham, North Carolina.

Ray Street Academy served 142 students during the 2021-2022 school year.  The school is designed to serve students from all six high schools and middle schools in the district who are looking for options for their educational process.  We accept students who are self-referrals, parent-requested referrals and students who have been recommended for long-term suspension from their home schools.   The staff is dedicated to providing quality educational opportunities for our students through the co-teaching platform with a focus on student engagement. 

Students are admitted to the Ray Street Academy through an application process.  Home school administrators complete the application and send to a district committee for review.  The intake of new students involves a meeting with the student, their parents, or guardians.  Students are required to attend the intake meeting. 

Ray Street Academy is proud to operate with a mentor-mentee program where every student on our campus meets with their mentor twice daily.  The purpose of these meetings is to check the status of the student's day and to have conversations regarding their progress.  We utilize Restorative Discipline Practices, which are non-punitive, relationship-centered approaches to discipline.  These approaches have been shown to address physical and emotional behavioral issues while avoiding physical and emotional harm.  We strive to use exclusionary consequences as a last resort.

Ray Street Academy’s alternative educational setting is as much a belief system as a program. WE share the belief that there are many ways of being educated and many different types of educational environments in which learning occurs.

No matter what you mean by it, research indicates that successful alternative education programs have specific common threads which make them successful.

• Structured and supportive classrooms

• Appropriate Curriculum

• Quality, Engaging Instruction

• Multiple and Continuous Assessment

• Positive, Individualized Approach to Discipline

• Quality Professional Development

• District Support

• Family and Community Involvement

• Clearly Identified Student Outcomes

Often this population of learners exhibits one or more of the following traits: under-performing academically, possessing learning disabilities, displaying emotional or behavioral issues, being deliberate or inadvertent victims of the behavioral problems of others, displaying a high risk of potential expulsion, suspension, or dropping out of school, and/or displaying the need for individualized instruction.    We have also added the population of students who are choosing to attend our school because the traditional school setting does not work for their needs.  Alternative education offers innovative, non-traditional approaches to teaching this population of learners, which aids in preventing these students from becoming dropouts.

Climate – For students to desire to be in school and be engaged learners, the environment in which they are attending must be positive.  This can be accomplished by making the physical structure and interior of the school one in which they can be proud of and possibly even contribute to through painting murals, participating in landscaping projects, as well as beautification days.

Another aspect of climate is the relationships that are built amongst staff and students.  Special selection should be considered when staffing an alternative education environment.  Staff must be experienced educators who are experienced in differentiated instruction, researched based teaching techniques and behavior management.  They must also desire to build positive relationships with students who have not necessarily had success in this area in the past.

Curriculum and Instruction – Due to the diverse needs of those students who attend alternative education environments, there has to be a full continuum of academic services ranging from basic SCOC, OCS, Vocational education, to specific academic intervention programs.  This would require teachers to be highly qualified in several areas.  It would also demand the need for flexible schedules.  These schedules would incorporate core curriculum and intervention blocks for specific academic and social skill needs.