The Talent Development program at Johns Hopkins, City Year, and Communities in Schools have created a new middle school and high school model that reduces dropout risk. Diplomas Now integrates strategies that are designed to raise student achievement, promotion, and graduation rates in the nation's most challenged high-poverty secondary schools. A…

A 2-year demonstration project funded by the Carnegie Corporation investigated combined effects of interventions involving teachers, students, and parents in a small northeastern district with an increasingly diverse population. Teachers examined racial identities and attitudes toward other groups, and designed effective antiracist curricula…

Describes an inservice program used by the Los Angeles School District for training school administrators, program coordinators, and instructional staff members in developing plans for implementing and evaluating instructional programs. (JG)

Argues that the best way to cultivate children's reasoning is to make philosophy an essential part of the elementary school curriculum. Philosophy alone provides the logical criteria for distinguishing better thinking from poorer. The author's "Philosophy for Children" program is described. (TE)

Makes a case for more developmental activities for principals, lists characteristics of ideal programs, identifies important competencies for which principals have indicated training needs, and reviews ways to overcome problems involved. (JM)

A comparison of the 12 most widely implemented education programs for at-risk students can help educators choose a direction while responding to increasing demands for school improvement. Comprehensive models include Accelerated Schools, Coalition of Essential Schools, Community for Learning, and School Development. Eight programs focusing on…

Learning to balance "outersense" and "innersense" is a complex task for adolescents and the focus of one secondary school's social and emotional learning program. Understanding innersense helps students gain outlets for priority interests, master conflict resolution, build personal direction for college and vocational interests, and empathize with…

At a private high school in Providence, Rhode Island, students benefit from Big Brother and Sister programs, peer mediation, and lessons in emotional intelligence across the curriculum. These activities are part of a comprehensive social and emotional education program called "Success for Life." For nearly 20 years, seniors have been…

Critical thinking alone is reactive, in that it lacks the creative elements necessary for social progress. Accordingly, the author has developed the CoRT (Cognitive Research Trust) program to teach the two aspects of perception: breadth (developing a perceptual map) and change (using the map to discover solutions). (TE)

Suggests a child's overall development is what makes academic learning possible. Notes that intelligence, the capacity to gain and use knowledge to solve problems and promote well-being, is comprised of cognitive, affective, and expressive components. Asserts that children need relationships with caring adults. Notes the School Development Program…

The "Passages" program is a curriculum that integrates heart, spirit, and community with strong academics. The program inspires feelings of connectedness in teenagers by addressing their unspoken needs: the search for meaning and purpose, longing for silence and solitude, urge for transcendence, hunger for joy and delight, creative…

Intelligence is here defined in terms of component processes, and three programs are reviewed that train aspects of intelligence as specified by this theory: Feuerstein's "Instrumental Enrichment," Lipman's "Philosophy for Children," and the "Chicago Mastery Learning" program. Central suggestions are provided for…

Cites some examples of programs in which students develop basic skills in connection with meaningful activities. (Author/MLF)

The author describes a seven-part process model she used in planning alternative programs in response to changing student needs. (IRT)