A Delaware district has pioneered an approach to ensure that all students can read proficiently by the time they leave third grade. To achieve this goal, the district adopted some safety nets, including identifying students early, using Chapter 1 tutors in regular classrooms, and testing mastery through a series of assessments. (MLH)

Too often, high school is a place that stifles creativity while fostering competition, conformity, intolerance, and the mean-spiritedness reflected in society. Students do not feel welcome and are caught in a developmental holding pattern. Proactive community-building efforts in Wisconsin and Colorado high schools are described. (MLH)

Board members can initiate three strategies to improve writing instruction: (1) an inservice program in writing instruction; (2) a new staffing pattern that includes hiring writing specialists; and (3) achievement tests to measure program success. Describes several successful writing projects. (MLF)