Springboard Schools, originally called the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative, were founded in 1995 in response to the Annenberg Challenge--a five-year effort to improve nine urban school districts financed by the philanthropist, ambassador, and publisher Walter H. Annenberg. In 2003, the group, headed by Executive Director Merrill Vargo,…

In a demographic shift that is ahead of the state as a whole, but representative of many small towns in the region, Hispanics make up nearly 27 percent of the enrollment in the 800-student Hennessey school district, up from 18.2 percent in the 2000-2001 school year. In response to those changes, the district has adjusted how it teaches…