Over the past few years, charter schools have received dramatic popular support. An overview of charter schools, including the arguments of their supporters and critics, is presented in this report. The text presents assumptions about the charter movement and discusses their strengths and weaknesses through a research-based synthesis. Advocates of…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there would be a significant difference in the achievement levels of two groups of eighth-grade Algebra I students when one group receives instruction from a non-traditional (Saxon) method of instruction, and the other receives instruction from a traditional method (Fair and Bragg text). The study was…

Educators increasingly agree that creating more inclusive schools by eliminating rigid ability grouping is important to improving education; this task will take years of study, persuasion, and staff development. This booklet is designed to assist school leaders desiring to study the issue, persuade others of its correctness, and create learning…

This report describes and evaluates two programs which deal with chronic status offenders: the Grimes Alternative School Program, a delinquency prevention project which targets intermediate school (grades 4 and 5) students with chronic discipline and/or truant behaviors, and the Home Remedies Program, a short-term crisis intervention and…

Guidelines to help districts comply with the laws and rules for the provision and implementation of alternative programs in Oregon are provided in this technical assistance manual. Chapters cover the following areas: Oregon revised statutes for alternative education; Oregon administrative rules for alternative education; state board of education…

This book presents suggestions for teenagers who are considering quitting schools. It argues that, for the most part, America's formal educational system hinders the acquisition of real-life learning and individual freedoms. Written specifically for adolescents, it offers guidelines for youth who decide to leave school and undertake home…

This outline describes the initial direction of a collaborative project involving several educators with training and experience in alternative/progressive education. Goals include: exploring and developing one or more new models for high school education, submitting articles concerning this work to appropriate publications, and implementing the…

Two key pieces of legislation cover changes to Wisconsin's alternative education programs. The first bill is "1993 Senate Bill 88, Relating to Alternative Education Program, Children-At-Risk Programs, Granting Rule-Making Authority and Making an Appropriation." This bill creates an alternative education grant program of $3 million for…

REAL Enterprises (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning) brings classes in "school-based enterprise" to rural high schools in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Washington State. Jonathan Sher, the founder of REAL Enterprises, believes that children learn better by doing, and that successful rural economic development requires an…

South Area Alternative School is a disciplinary center for conduct disordered adolescents in Broward County, Florida. The center is governed by a school-wide environmental structure so positive that negative behavior is met by appropriate consequences rather than punishment. The intake procedure includes a tour of the facility, discussion of…

Describes briefly the "Experimental Quarter" at Skagit Valley College in which 30 students registered for 16 credits of Education and were given total freedom to pursue their own educational needs in any way they individually selected, then reregistered at the end of the quarter for what they had studied. Positive student attitudes…

Prefaced by an interpretation of American preschool studies, a semihistorical approach is used in presenting findings from preschool experiments from the West Riding Educational Priority Area project in England, with a purpose being to suggest some alternatives and to sketch a framework for explaining the conflicting results. (ND)

Examines various alternative approaches that have been suggested for improving teacher education, particularly such "scientific" approaches as performance-based teacher education, and argues that teacher education cannot be improved meaningfully without first redefining the meaning and purposes of education in our society. (JG)

Describes a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) sponsored program of after-school activities available to the district's elementary students. (IRT)

An experimental program at Hunter College, New York City, risks giving up some of its innovative ideas if it becomes institutionalized. (Available from Dr. George Movesian, Managing Editor, 149 West Broad Street, Bergenfield, NJ 07621; $7.00 yearly) (Author/MLF)