In 2004, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Educational Quality Improvement Program 2 (EQUIP2) began investigating community-based schools as a mechanism for reaching the underserved populations. The team identified nine models that successfully organized schooling in regions least served by the formal education…

Anthony, a stocky, muscular, young African American man with a smile that exudes warmth and enthusiasm, chose a path taken by far too many of his peers: he became a high school dropout. He started down this path long before he entered his urban high school in Wisconsin in 1997. Throughout his years in school, he had never been pushed to excel, and…

Many minority adolescents in the United States today are at a high risk for truancy, dropout, and academic under-achievement. Truancy is related to a host of preceding and subsequent risks such as delinquency and limited vocational outcomes. Using participatory research methods, this federally funded, 10-month study assessed youths' perceptions of…

In this article, the authors describe McLane High School's Turning Points Academy (TPA), a revolutionary program which was created to counter the low graduation rates and even lower college attendance rates at McLane (Fresno, California). TPA, which began in 1994, is a small learning community that each spring brings 145 McLane sophomores to the…

This study examines the experiences of 37 students who were suspended or expelled from school and were attending an urban public alternative high school in the northeast. The analysis specifically focuses on the loss of classroom instruction time and its implications for academic achievement and on the socioemotional experiences of students…

Project Achieve Transition Services (PATS) was designed to extend support services, instructional enhancements, and family outreach to targeted high school students and their parents, using a case management/team approach. Initiated at seven schools in the first year of the program, PATS is specifically geared to meet the needs of late-entry…

This study examined teacher perceptions during the implementation of a nongraded, multiage primary school program. Issues surrounding teacher beliefs about the definition, challenges, and benefits of nongradedness were examined. Individual case studies and a cross-case analysis were completed through content analysis. Six classroom teachers…

This document consists of 12 issues, an entire volume year, of the EDUTECH Report published between April 1996 and March 1997. The newsletter's purpose is to alert faculty and administrators to issues in educational technology. Each issue typically contains two feature articles, a page of news briefs, a preview of the upcoming issue, and a…

This book discusses various major aspects of competition in education. It identifies competition within educational policies, programs, and practices, as well as the problems that certain forms of competition create. It also traces the influences of American competitive values on education. Chapter 1 provides an introductory overview of the…

Issues in restructuring, based on the experiences of a former Minnesota Commissioner of Education, are presented in this paper. The restructuring of Minnesota schools could be characterized as movement from: K-12 to lifelong learning; ad hoc programs to a comprehensive policy for at-risk children; a few leaders to many leaders; inputs to outcomes;…

This paper describes global changes in education to be expected as a result of the expansion of information technology. Technology expands access to alternate sources of information and changes the approach to teaching and learning. A case is made for a lifelong approach to learning and cites certain specific factors that should be included. The…

This Digest discusses engagement in alternative preparation to acquire a license to teach in U.S. public schools. Prospective teachers seek alternative programs for many reasons, including job change due to forced retirement or lack of interest; desire to contribute to society's wellbeing; and desire to use teaching skills learned elsewhere.…

Approximately 200 studies were conducted on the Open Education Faculty (OEF) in Turkey between the years 1982 and 1997. This book aims to inform researchers on the literature about the OEF. The book consists of four main chapters. The first chapter is an introduction which gives an overview of worldwide distance education efforts and presents a…

In this paper, standards-based curriculum alignment is represented as an inquiry strategy for creating a district's coherent curriculum for kindergarten through grade 12. A coherent curriculum is one in which the district's written curriculum is externally congruent with state and/or national academic content and performance standards, and the…

Papers presented at the fourteenth Annual Conference of the Alliance for Invitational Education are (1) "Caring, Sharing, Daring: Three Tests to Help Develop More Inviting Policies, Programmes, and Procedures" (M. Ayers); (2) "Project: Gentlemen on the Move - Combating the Poor Academic and Social Performance of African American Male Youth" (D. F.…