Principal describes experience in establishing and operating the Minne Howard School, a separate school for ninth-grade students in Alexandria, Virginia. Describes keys to success: Create a teacher advisor component, eliminate inschool suspension, teach five classes, and institute a school support team. (PKP)

Argues that creating separate schools for ninth-grade students improves their academic and social transition to high school. Supports argument with research results and personal anecdotes. Describes school district experiences in developing and operating ninth-grade centers. (PKP)

Profiles Bayonne (New Jersey) High School, an urban four-year, comprehensive high school with 2,100 students from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Because bilingual programs are unfeasible, staff have developed specially designed courses (in Ebony culture, American social issues, and transitional English) to ease…

Uses space problems of a 15-year-old South Carolina middle school to illustrate the importance of a proper facility-design process. Planning principles such as change of space function, flexibility, accommodation of technology, structural quality, adequate supervision, and proper maintenance should be revisited. Time is a good test of design and…

After more than three decades of development and two decades of evaluation, career academies have been found to be effective in improving the performance of students in high school, particularly for students at greatest risk. Career academies have become the most durable and best-tested component of a high school reform strategy that includes…