Before a St. Louis (Missouri) school could raise student achievement, its principal had to break through several "false ceilings" to create a new standard of student performance. To achieve this goal, the principal refrained from underestimating her "at-risk" students, provided enrichment instead of remediation programs,…

A K-8 school owned and operated by the Minneapolis-based Tesseract Group (formerly Educational Alternatives, Inc.) has partnered teachers and parents in decisions concerning curriculum and instructional strategies. Class enrollment is capped at 24, and two state-licensed teachers work in each classroom to help students complete projects for…