COA is approved to serve students who’ve been identified as needing specialized education due to a Speech/Language Impairment, Other Health Impairment, Emotional Disturbance, and/or Specific Learning Disability.

Students are generally referred to COA because they have struggled to fully access the curriculum at their home school.  This may be due to academic learning differences or, more commonly, because their life circumstances or difficulties with emotional regulation prevent them from being able to focus and perform in a traditional school setting.

Not all students come to COA with a plan to never leave.  Some COA students transition back to their high school once they have reached their social/emotional and academic goals, while others chose to stay and complete all graduation requirements.