The top reported proficiency rate is 11% in English language arts. The lowest is 2% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Alternative Learning Center
The Alternative Learning Center sits on Gonzales Street in Austin's 78702 zip code, part of Austin ISD, and serves students in grades six through twelve. It is classified as an alternative school, which shapes nearly everything a parent needs to understand about what this place is and who it is designed for.
The school is small, with a student body well under a hundred students spread across seven grade levels. The enrollment skews toward the middle grades, with the high school years, particularly eleventh and twelfth grade, having very thin cohorts. A large majority of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with Black students making up most of the remaining enrollment. Data on English learner and special education populations was not available in the data provided.
On Texas STAAR assessments, proficiency rates are very low across all tested subjects and grade levels. In math, the middle school grades produced little or no measurable proficiency, and the broader picture across ELA, science, and social studies is similar. These numbers sit in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Travis County. A parent should understand, though, that this comparison is a structural one. Alternative schools like this serve students who have often faced significant obstacles in traditional settings, and raw proficiency figures reflect that reality rather than telling a complete story about what the school is doing for its students. What the data does not provide is any information about student growth over time, credit recovery outcomes, or how students here fare after leaving, so a parent interested in understanding the school's actual impact on its students would want to ask those questions directly of the school or district.
No program offerings, course access, graduation rate, or attendance data were available in the data provided. Given that this is an alternative school designed partly around credit recovery and re-engagement for students who have struggled in conventional settings, the absence of a graduation rate is worth noting as a gap. Families should ask Austin ISD about completion and transition outcomes specifically for this campus.
Austin ISD is navigating significant institutional change. Publicly reported coverage describes a voter-approved bond package from late 2022, the largest school bond in Central Texas history, which has been funding facility rebuilds across the district. A property tax increase approved in late 2024 is funding staff raises and addressing a large budget deficit. Most consequentially for families right now, the district's board approved in late 2025 a consolidation plan closing ten schools before the 2026-27 school year in response to a decade of enrollment decline, with tens of thousands of empty seats districtwide and dozens of state-mandated turnaround plans also approved at the same time. Whether or how the Alternative Learning Center is affected by those consolidation decisions was not specified in the available data, and families should check directly with Austin ISD.
Austin itself is a fast-growing city anchored by state government, the University of Texas, and a large technology sector including employers like Tesla, Apple, Samsung, and Oracle. Housing in the 78702 zip code reflects the broader Austin market, where values sit well above both the Texas and national medians and have seen a modest year-over-year decline. Renting remains more financially accessible than owning for many households, though rent has edged up slightly. The neighborhood around Gonzales Street is in East Austin, one of the more walkable and transit-accessible parts of the city, with Capital Metro bus service and proximity to downtown.
The Alternative Learning Center is a small, specialized setting designed for students who need something different from a conventional school. Parents considering it should go in with specific questions about what "different" means here in practice, what supports exist, and what students' paths look like after leaving.
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