Over the years, Alternatives Unlimited has mastered a thorough understanding of education based instructional practices as well as, myriad methods of behavior management. Since its inception in 1997, Alternatives Unlimited has partnered with urban school districts throughout the United States to provide high quality, cost-effective educational opportunities to those districts' most challenging students. Due to the company's extensive experience in dealing with this challenging student population, AU has developed an educational program that simultaneously focuses on the academic and emotional needs of students. This emphasis on total care and well-being, provides an environment that is conducive to the students regaining and/or developing the academic and social skills necessary to become productive members of school and the community.

In all Alternatives Unlimited programs, knowledgeable and talented staff are recruited and provided with ongoing training in effective approaches to educating challenging students. Professional development activities focus on principles of cognitive sciences, use of technological resources, instruction and curriculum content that follows individual state and district guidelines. Instructional strategies ensure students perform well on state proficiency exams.

Dr. Stuart Berger conceived Alternatives Unlimited because of his deep concern about the number of students who "fall through the cracks" in public education, especially in urban school districts. A strong advocate of educational reform, Dr. Berger believes that society must ensure the success of all students if it is to remain true to its democratic commitment. Dr. Berger lives the concept that "no child is left behind" . Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Alternatives Unlimited, he previously served as superintendent of schools for more than 20 years in Baltimore County, Maryland; Wichita, Kansas; and Frederick, Maryland, among others. His undergraduate work was completed at Case Western Reserve University where he also earned a Master’s degree in English. He holds a doctorate from Kent State University and has completed postdoctoral work at Vanderbilt, Columbia, and Stanford universities. Dr. Berger also received a law degree with honors from the University of Maryland.

While pursuing other interests, Dr. Berger noticed a dearth of appropriate settings for the growing number of youth, who, for one reason or another, were having trouble achieving success in the traditional school setting. As a former public school administrator and proponent of quality public education, Dr. Berger envisioned a way for the public school districts to cost effectively educate students. Consequently, Alternatives Unlimited, Inc. was formed in 1998.

Forming a partnership with the Spring Branch Independent School District, Alternatives Unlimited opened its first alternative learning center in 1998. Through the years, the company has steadily grown to its current size of 30+ schools, with programs in ten states. There are additional learning centers and tutoring sites slated to open for the burgeoning 2006-2007 school year.

motivate and instruct students who have had trouble achieving success in the traditional school setting, including those identified as emotionally disturbed or behavior disordered, in safe and orderly, academically challenging environments. To achieve this goal, students are scheduled into small classes, provided optimum personal attention, and given access to a range of high quality resources.