Compared the retention of academic skills of elementary students in traditional and alternative calendar schools over the summer months using curriculum-based measurement. Students completed mathematics, spelling, written expression, and reading probes in the spring and fall. Results indicated that retention of academic skills in the different…

Describes the Gateway Apprenticeship Program, an alternative education experiment in the form of a traveling high school that visited a variety of states and countries. Discusses educational opportunities, costs, the growth of a sense of community, and the importance of learning about other ways to live as well as other ways to educate. (LRW)

Illustrates how an alternative high school in Seattle (Washington) used creative thinking in taking space designed for other uses and making it into a user-friendly school. Other adaptations of old buildings to school use are highlighted. (GR)

Discusses creating buildings from the ground up to support alternative (nontraditional) educational programs and the benefits of matching the facility to the curriculum and the students' needs. The use of a retrofitted vacant office building to support a nontraditional curriculum in Salt Lake City is highlighted. (GR)

Studied the first year of an experimental teacher certification program designed to prepare nontraditional teachers for urban classrooms. Data from 40 participants (average age 39.5 years) show the development of relationships among students and faculty that increased learning for all participants and reveal the challenges and compromises these…

Discusses two law schools that are offering Saturday-Sunday programs, with other schools interested in doing so; accreditors are raising objections, however. (EV)

An alternative high school in the US where democracy is truly enacted by the students is described. Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, Colorado, is a unique school where the students' personal voices are valued that helps them develop power, responsibility, and authority over their education.

Pirates capture the imagination, span centuries of history, have great clothes, conform to surprising codes of conduct, and invite a wide variety of themes and subjects for teaching. Piracy can be a seductive topic for all ages. In spite of the imaginative appeal of the topic, piracy is insufficient as a starting point for a well-connected social…

The Oregon Statewide Report Card is an annual publication required by law (ORS 329.115), which reports on the state of public schools and their progress towards the goals of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The purpose of the Oregon Report Card is to monitor trends among school districts and Oregon's progress toward achieving the…

This study examines non-completion of Year 12 at school for a nationally representative sample of young people who were 15 years old and still attending school in 2003. The study explores relationships between non-completion and selected socio-demographic and school-related factors, and changes in rates of school non-completion from the early…

Decreasing the high school dropout rate in the United States is gaining a great deal of national attention. One of the key strategies that has been identified to decrease dropout rate is to offer at-risk students alternatives to traditional school. This study contributed to our knowledge about alternative high schools for at-risk students by using…

The Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute) is a special entity within the National League of Cities (NLC). The YEF Institute helps municipal leaders take action on behalf of the children, youth, and families in their communities. The YEF Institute's first-ever report on The State of City Leadership for Children and Families…

The author shares a story about the positive power of nature in the lives of children, particularly those children who are at-risk for school failure. The setting for the story is the Central Child Development Center (CCDC) in Rock Hill, South Carolina, a public preschool with four-year-old kindergarten students (4K) and preschoolers with special…

In 2000, 6% of students in the Guilford County Schools (Greensboro, North Carolina) dropped out, and the school board demanded action. After considering a variety of options, the district turned to a small-school concept called the "middle college high school" to help reconnect those students and keep them in school. A middle college…

The 2006 Education Act provided an entitlement for all 14 year-olds to take a specialist diploma from 2013. Despite concerns of many educationalists and politicians, the first diplomas will begin in September 2008. New Labour claims that the diplomas are innovative and challenging; however, this article argues that they exhibit many of the…