Suburban parents vie for slots at Washington Gifted and Talented Magnet Elementary School on the edge of downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It doesn't seem to matter that it sits on a hill overlooking the largest public housing project in Raleigh, or it draws 30% of its students from the surrounding low-income area. This school and others in Wake…

The School of Hope (Pointe Coupee Parish Schools, Louisiana) opened in January 1996 in response to industry's needs for nonprofessional employees. Curriculum is provided by an integrated learning system--35 computers linked to mainframe--that allows students to work on individualized lessons at their own pace. Seventy percent of 120 students are…