Thinking green is normal for the current generation of high school students, who have always had recycling bins in their classrooms and green themes in their assemblies, lessons, and in many of the television shows they watch. They have been well schooled in environmental messages. It follows that multidisciplinary programs now operate in schools…

People looking for a public school Cinderella story need look no further than George Hall Elementary in Mobile, Alabama. The once struggling school, which serves mostly low-income children, now boasts state math and reading test scores most wealthy suburban schools would be proud of. George Hall did not have to sacrifice all but the basics to get…

Third-grader Jaime of Denver, Colorado, was having a hard time concentrating in school. The son of Mexican immigrants, he had learned to speak English perfectly in his dual-language public school, but reading and writing was another story. When her mother, Xochitl Rico, knew about Cesar Chavez Academy, a new tuition-free charter school where the…

This article features Buckhorn High School in New Market, Alabama, where teachers weave literacy instruction across all content areas--with great results. Literacy is shot through everything at this 1,350-student school. It has been an obsession for a decade, ever since school leaders tested their students and found that one-third of entering…

Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and College Results Online--a website that lets the public access a school's enrollment and graduation statistics on the basis of categories such as race, ethnicity, and gender--Education Trust or EdTrust, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that aims to close the gaps that keep many…

Too many students drop out of school, which results in economic losses and increased crime. The problem is particularly acute for black and Hispanic students. A recent study of more than 130 9th-graders in five California high schools revealed some interesting information: Most of them (three-quarters) said they liked school, and more than 80% saw…

The Breakthrough High Schools (BTHS) project involved 25 high schools nationwide, each with a student population of at least 50% under-represented minority students and a minimum of 50% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. And yet, at least 90% of all their students graduated from high school and were accepted into a…