A group of teachers at Clifford Smart Middle School in Michigan's Walled Lake Consolidated School District have broken free from traditional grading in order to embrace a more meaningful grading practice. Using standards-based grading practices, they believe their grading now accurately communicates to students and parents the student's mastery…

Students in this elementary school are much more receptive to learning in their after-lunch classes since the usual lunch-period pattern--lunch followed by play--was reversed so that students play and then eat. (Author/IRT)

Describes the evolution and demise of an experimental program that, one afternoon a week, allowed students to choose their learning experiences. (IRT)

Using a speaker-phone installed for less than $40, a class at Georgia's Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe High School interviewed more than 20 local and national figures in government and journalism in conversations ranging from 15 to 30 minutes yet accrued a phone bill of less than $60. (Author/PGD)

The author describes the Cuban escuelas en el campo (schools in the countryside) and discusses them as models for developing nations. (IRT)

The Thaler System encompasses economic incentives for students and an extensive student government system that includes a legal system. (IRT)

Describes a center--a highly developed play space--to teach sensory concepts (up, down, in, out, above, below, sweet, sour, hot, cold, loud, soft, and others) to blind children. (Author/JF)

Through the use of such support services as interpreting, note-taking, and tutors, deaf college students at California State University at Northridge compete with 25,000 hearing peers in an urban, liberal arts university setting. (Author)

Describes the process by which a small elementary system (Windsor, Connecticut) combined Individually Guided Instruction and open education. (Author)

Originally designed to meet the needs of students at international schools forced to pursue their education across national frontiers, the International Baccalaureate provides an integrated course of study and set of examinations that follow the classical liberal approach to education, emphasizing a balance of scientific studies and the…

Describes the Community Service Internship program at East Lyme (Connecticut) High School. The program is designed to help students understand the needs of various segments of the local population while allowing them to engage in community service for a substantial period. (IW)