Alternative Education Campus Accountability

AEC Accountability Handbook (PDF) 

October 2026 - This document guides schools and districts through AEC accountability.
Primary audience: District and school administrators

Optional Measures Training

Slides and recording

Optional Measures Sunsetting 2026-2027 (Excel) 

October 2026 - This resource provides the list of optional measures that are sunsetting along with the rationales.

Optional Measures Re-Norming 2026-2027 (Excel)October 2026 - This resource provides the list of optional measures that are being re-normed for the 2027 performance frameworks.

2026 NWEA MAP and STAR Optional Measures Fact Sheet (PDF)September 2025 - This document provides the measures being sunset for 2026 and the approvable use of NWEA and STAR assessments with the cut points

Calculation Guidance for Alternative Education Campuses (PDF) September 2025 - This resource guides schools and districts through the AEC required and optional measures, including definitions and calculation formulas.
Primary audience: District and school administrators.

Alternative Education Campus (AEC)
Optional Measures Application Process Guide

Decision Guidance and Interrater Consistency

AEC Report - HB 25-1167 Fact Sheet (PDF) 

September 2025 - State law created in 2025 (HB25-1167) requires CDE to complete an annual report on AEC year-round enrollment trends, including student demographics and groups.

October 1, 2026: New Optional Measures application opens for measures to appear on the 2027 SPF

Office Hours:
Book Office Hours here

AECs have specialized missions, nontraditional methods of instruction delivery, serve students with severe limitations, and have student populations that are comprised of at least 90% high risk students.

High risk students are those who meet one or more of 15 conditions:

• Habitually Truant 
• Juvenile delinquent
• Dropped out of school
• Expelled from school
• History of personal drug or alcohol use
• History of personal street gang involvement
• History of child abuse or neglect/foster care
• Has a parent or guardian in prison
• Has an IEP
• Family history of domestic violence
• Repeated school suspensions
• Pregnant or parenting
• Migrant child
• Homeless child
• History of serious psychiatric or behavioral disorder
• Over-age/ under-credited

Note: The shared experience of a global pandemic does not qualify as meeting the "other high risk" definition on its own"

Below is the list of current AECs as approved by the State Board of Education.

• Schools Designated as Alternative Education Campuses 2026-27

• Schools Designated as Alternative Education Campuses 2025-26

• Schools designated as Alternative Education Campuses 2024-25

In addition to Academic Achievement, Academic Growth, and Postsecondary & Workforce Readiness, AECs have an additional required measure of Student Engagement, and weightings of measures are slightly different from traditional schools to account for the high-risk population of students served.

AECs are assigned one of four ratings based on the percentage of points earned across the four performance indicators shown in the pie chart above. Insufficient state data is assigned if there is not enough outcome data to assign a rating.

AEC Performance Plan - AECs with a Performance Plan are meeting expectations on the majority of performance metrics.

AEC Improvement Plan - These AECs are identified as lower performing. They may be meeting expectations on some performance metrics, but they are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on many.

AEC Priority Improvement Plan - These AECs are identified as low performing. They are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on most performance metrics. The state will provide support and oversight to these schools until they improve.

AEC Turnaround Plan - These AECs are identified as among the lowest performing schools in the state. They are not meeting or are only approaching expectations on most performance metrics. The state will provide support and oversight to these schools until they improve.

AEC Insufficient State Data - Historically, the Insufficient State Data plan type has not been assigned to AECs. In 2022, given the lack of required data available, a portion of AECs did not have enough data to meaningfully determine their performance. Insufficient State Data plan types were assigned to AECs using the same criteria used to assign this plan type to non-AEC schools.