The Alternative schools are essentially specialized educational environments that place a great deal of emphasis on small classrooms, high teacher-to-student ratios, individualized instruction, noncompetitive performance assessments, and less structured classrooms (Raywid 1983). The purpose of these schools is to provide academic instruction to students expelled or suspended for disruptive behavior or mental or health issues, or who are unable to succeed in the mainstream school environment (Ingersoll and Leboeuf 1997).While there is a great degree of variation among alternative schools, research demonstrates that the schools that succeed with this population of youth typically have Curriculum-based on real-life learning (Coffee and Pestridge 2001) 

Bartlett Educational Center in Erlanger/Elsmere School District is an Alternative school. This is the s1st year FCS is partnering with the School Counselor to provide Real Life Learning through Cooking Classes. FCS Cooking program meets three to four times a month and teaches the youth with basic cooking skills gradually working toward more complicated cooking skills.  The use of SNAP recipes helped the youth learn to cook healthy easy meals.

ll the students were able to follow a recipe, measure and create breakfast, lunch and dinner. The youth were exposed to a world of different cuisine. This year 10 youth were new to the school. Many of he youth had never cooked from a recipe. 100% said they learned new skills they would use in the future.  Many of the youth had not cooked with fresh beef, chicken and vegetables. All of the youth reported that they had learned new skills that they would be using in the future.