A Michigan high school piloted a program to work on improving student attendance. It denies credit to students exceeding six absences in a class and includes a makeup provision. The absenteeism rate dropped from 12 percent to 3.5 percent. (MD)

A 1985 Hawaii regulation requires that students participating in athletics must have a 2.0 grade point average and pass all courses required for graduation at the end of each grading period. The PASS program at Kahuku High School was developed to keep student athletes from being academically disqualified and to help underachievers regain their…

A year ago, a small Maine high school used cutting-edge instructional methodology, aggressive public-relations strategies, and community input to place its art department at the center of school improvement. Implementation of an interdisciplinary art, business-education, and computer-science course has elevated the art department's status and…

Describes an innovative values education program at a suburban New Jersey high school. The ABCD program's premise is that teachers and students must know themselves before they can benefit from a school's educational and teaching experiences. The pilot project, which emphasized self-awareness training, showed that ninth graders could understand…

The role of instructional coach is being piloted in four schools within the Department of Defense Dependents Schools system. One teacher from each school is appointed as an instructional coach for teachers in the building to provide a range of services leading to improved instruction and student achievement. This collegial/instructional coaching…

An upstate New York school district approached technology integration by setting up pilot programs using computer clusters in the classrooms of interested teachers. The first wave of teachers evaluated and incorporated third-party software into their regular teaching. A second wave of technology involved multimedia applications. A third wave will…

Since most undergraduates at Wayne State University are from the Detroit area, staff decided to communicate with area schools about expectations for incoming freshmen and provide high-school/university curriculum articulation. Four schools successfully participated in a pilot project investigating how a university library/high-school partnership…

To counter gender bias effects and improve student learning, staff at a Virginia middle school decided to group eighth-grade students by gender for math and science instruction. Girls felt freer to speak out. Grade point averages in gender-based science and math classes for both girls and boys were higher than in coeducational classes. (MLH)

Algebridge, the first phase of a University of Arizona project (PRIME) to promote higher education among minority middle school students, makes algebra more accessible by smoothing students' transition to abstract thinking and pinpointing potentially frustrating concepts. The program helps at-risk youngsters dispel their fear of math and clear the…