Oglethorpe Academy, a parent-initiated charter middle school in Savannah, Georgia, is a run-down facility lacking school-board cheerleaders and maintenance assistance. Navigating the district bureaucracy is problematic. The school receives $5,100 per student; it will be closed if academic goals are not met. (MLH)

Named for Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, the Stadium School is a small charter school that combines project-based instruction with activities such as community gardening. Despite its popularity, this middle school has an uncertain future. Established in 1993, the school will close unless students' standardized test scores improve this year. (MLH)

Public deliberation is a little-used concept that gets people talking about education and working together to improve it. Study circles discuss each solution's pros and cons, explore people's deeper motivations, weigh others' views carefully, work through conflicting emotions, and identify common ground. Pueblo, Colorado's process is profiled.…

To survive the 21st century, schools must internalize new technologies and expand their capacity for using technology to improve teaching and learning. They must adopt certain corporate change principles: examine mental models, think of a different way to think, and continuously improve and refine technology's role. (MLH)