Discusses the educational possibilities of a new form of educational contract previously unique to business and industry: the performance contract. (AN)

The DeLasalle Education Center in Kansas City, Missouri, accepts only students who are confirmed educational failures. The school is private, charges no tuition, and demonstrates that educational programs can succeed when the teacher and the student agree on the learning materials, how they are to be used, and the expected results. The center has…

Performance contracting is sometimes expensive and not necessarily successful. Opportune school university programs as evidenced by the Atlanta public Schools project mean utilizing the combined resources to provide optimum in educational opportunities. (DS)

Staff at a Sandy Hook, Connecticut high school agreed that content standards are fixed learning goals specifying what a student should know and accomplish; performance standards describe student work products (criteria) to meet these goals. Forthright expectations increased students' accountability for quality work, improved grading objectivity,…

In the Charlotte-Mecklenburg (North Carolina) Public Schools, thousands of gifted children are tackling challenging, real-world problems correlated with curricular expectations. This gifted program fuses three philosophies: multiple-intelligences theory, problem-centered learning, and a thoughtful atmosphere to foster critical and creative…

In its valiant differentiation and detracking efforts, a Virginia high school hoped to assist all students in mastering state standards and enrich, excite, and challenge high-ability students via learning contracts and advanced material feeding their interests. However, disgruntled parents managed to reinstate the tracking system. (MLH)