Transitional Learning Center (TLC)

Contact: North Albany Academy, 475-6800

The Transitional Learning Center is located at North Albany Academy, 570 North Pearl Street. It is the only elementary alternative-education program in the City School District of Albany. Aimed at students in grades 4-6, it is purely transitional. Students who exhibit serious behavior problems in their home schools are enrolled in the Transitional Learning Center for 30-90 days.

The program's goal is  to stabilize students, get to the bottom of their problems and decide how the district can best serve them in the future. After that, many TLC students return to the regular classroom setting, although sometimes they are placed in another school setting within the district. This is done to get the TLC students away from a peer group that is having a bad influence on them. If the students enrolled in TLC are found to have a disability, they are put in a special education class; and if their emotional problems are truly serious, they may be referred to a private or public treatment center.

The TLC staff use a variety of reward strategies to build good work habits. That technique plus a lot of consistency in terms of rules, a lot of contact with parents and a lot of good old fashioned TLC -- the "tender-loving care" kind -- has made this program a real success!

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