PRESQUE ISLE – An alternative high school that has had 90 percent of its nearly 100 graduates continue on to either college or a full-time job is branching out to help other at-risk students.

The Carleton Project, which operates out of the former KeyBank in downtown Presque Isle, is a state-approved private school that enables youths who haven’t been successful in a traditional learning environment to take responsibility for their own education and to build a curriculum based on their individual interests.

With a waiting list since it opened four years ago, the school began an outreach program in Houlton last month.

“There’s a significant population in our area that needs that kind of program,” said Houlton Superintendent Stephen Fitzpatrick. “They have learning challenges, but they still have the capacity and the will to achieve. They just need additional support.”

The new relationship with Houlton comes nearly a year after the school began another outreach program with Project Atrium, a Bangor residential treatment facility for students with substance abuse and mental health problems.

Carleton operates four days a week year-round in Presque Isle and requires its 15 students to decide for themselves whether they want to earn credits by taking online courses, writing research papers or reading textbooks. Students must hold down a part-time job and develop a plan for after graduation. In their senior year they have the option of taking a class at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle. They don’t earn grades but are rated on a pass-fail system.

At Carleton, “you can explore things you’re interested in rather than just books and words,” said Randy Fulton, 16, of Mars Hill.

Founder Alan Morris said Carleton can take a more innovative approach to alternative education because it isn’t part of a school system. Most alternative education models are within school systems, follow the same schedule, and call for the same requirements and number of credits. They end up as simply “watered-down versions of what other kids are getting,” Morris said.

A former alternative education teacher who helped develop programs throughout the state, Morris opened the Presque Isle school in 2001 with a $40,000 grant from the Office of Substance Abuse after noticing that many Aroostook County students were dropping out of high school and getting involved in criminal activities.

He named the school after Mount Carleton Provincial Park in New Brunswick, where he once managed summer wilderness camps. Carleton Project students participate in a watershed monitoring study there each summer as part of their biology class.

The program is aligned with Maine Learning Results, and the curriculum has been approved by the Maine Department of Education. A five-member board of directors provides academic oversight.

Although Morris and director Margaret Pierce are the only two full-time teachers, the school has several part-time instructors because community residents often teach classes and lead projects.

Students are admitted based on whether they’re self-motivated, understand why they want a high school diploma, and accept responsibility for their situation.

They typically enter Carleton as a sophomore or junior and spend about two years at the school. They often are referred by the Department of Corrections, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the Department of Labor, so their tuition is subsidized by one of these state agencies. Some have tuition paid by their local school system if it has recommended their placement at Carleton.

Other times, parents like Cheryl Duperry pick up the tab. Her son had been earning poor grades at Ashland High School because he was bored, she said. He thrived at Carleton and went on to the New England School of Communications in Bangor.

“At first I thought, ‘This is too foreign – no grades and everything.’ But it worked out. Some kids lose out in a regular public school setting. I didn’t want my kid to lose out,” she said.

Carleton’s nontraditional approaches to learning include offering substance abuse prevention as part of the curriculum; working closely with parents; and requiring students to participate in regular meetings to share ideas on a variety of issues.

“Students are involved in every step of what and how they’re learning,” Morris said.

While the specific curriculum that Carleton has developed likely is unique in the state, the school is among 123 state-approved private alternative schools that serve more than 15,000 students altogether, according to the Maine Department of Education.

Though the number of alternative programs has remained fairly constant over the past few years, more public schools are becoming interested in the programs as they recognize that the traditional school organization and curriculum aren’t meeting the needs of many students, who require more flexibility and diversity in how they are taught, said University of Maine professor William Davis, director of the Institute for the Study of Students at Risk.

Alternative education programs serve as models for what can be done on a larger scale, said Shelley Reed of the Maine Department of Education. “They tend to be more creative because they have to reach out to the interests, learning styles and learning paces of students who have disenfranchised themselves from traditional learning.”

Adam Cormier, 19, of Van Buren, who graduated from Carleton in 2003, said he would have dropped out of high school if it hadn’t been for Carleton.

“Every day I dreaded going to school. It was the worst time for me,” said Cormier, admitting that he had been bored and consequently became disruptive. He had been told to repeat ninth grade because of poor grades.

At Carleton, Morris “found a way for me to apply my love of cars to my schoolwork,” said the young man, who researched and wrote a historical overview of the Corvette for an assignment.

He learned basic automotive technology at the NASCAR Technical Institute in North Carolina and now builds Humvee engines at the Maine Military Authority in Limestone.

When students enter Carleton, they take an online test to see whether they have basic math skills. If not, they are given work sheets to raise their performance.

“English skills are part of everything kids do – reading and writing across the curriculum is our goal,” said Morris.

The teachers ask a lot of the students, who in turn begin to expect more of themselves, said Pierce. “Before, it was get it done and hand it in, get a grade and move on. But here, you hand it in, and we ask is this your best. It’s one of those things where they feel so safe that they can answer honestly. They know that it’s not going to be accepted until it’s their best, which pushes kids to achieve their potential.”

Carleton “gives you opportunities and goals, and you’re expected to fulfill them,” said Beau Myrick, 17, of Caribou. “If you don’t, it’s your fault.”

In their last year, students can take an English course free of charge at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle. “Most come in thinking they’ll never go to college, but when they pass the course, they say to themselves, ‘Wow, I didn’t know I could do that,'” said Morris. “It’s a great confidence builder.”

Students, who are tracked after graduation, have enrolled at Northern Maine Community College, the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Husson College in Bangor and the University of Maine, Morris said. Or they have taken full-time jobs at places such as MBNA in Fort Kent and Presque Isle or McCain Foods in Easton.

Houlton Superintendent Fitzpatrick said that, over time, as many as 20 students could be enrolled at the program in his school district, housed at the Houlton Higher Education Center. “I think it will grow as the benefits of the program are realized,” he said.

Mars Hill Superintendent Roger Shaw, who typically sends a handful of students to Carleton Project each year, called the school “another tool in the arsenal that we have to move kids to success.” Guidance counselors from Central Aroostook Junior Senior High School in Mars Hill call students who have dropped out and suggest they take a look at Carleton, said the superintendent, whose school system doesn’t include an alternative program.

In Fort Fairfield, which does have its own alternative program, Superintendent Jeannette Condon said Carleton provides “another opportunity to match specific needs that students have with an educational programming that we think they would be most successful in.” She praised Carleton’s flexible schedule, which enables students to earn a diploma within a shorter time frame.

“I can work at my own pace,” said Dylan Flannery, 16, of Caribou. “There are rules here, but they’re understandable.”

Morris said he hopes to help other communities begin similar programs “so that we don’t write kids off simply because they don’t make it in a traditional public school system.”

Teacher education programs, he said, still are “very traditional,” and educators should know how to meet students’ needs in a variety of ways.

That’s the goal of a proposal by UM professor Davis. Although there is now no formal alternative education training program in Maine, he said that, based on his recommendation, the UM College of Education is considering offering graduate and undergraduate courses in the subject.

The timing is right because of No Child Left Behind, the federal education reform law that emphasizes high academic standards, student achievement and accountability, according to Davis.

“We’ve got to ensure a way that these students have an opportunity to learn that’s tailored to their own learning styles and social and mental health needs so we don’t lose them,” he said.

For more information and to donate to the school’s recently established foundation, log on to www.carletonproject.com.