A severe space crunch and dismal academic performance prompted a Texas school district to adopt multitrack year-round education. Six years later, crowding is under control and test scores and attendance are up. In an interview, the superintendent and assistant superintendent discuss the district's success with this controversial schedule. (MLF)

The goal of California's classroom size reduction (CSR) program is to have 20 or fewer students in kindergarten through grade 3 classrooms. Districts receive $650 for each student in a reduced classroom. Describes how districts implemented the plan and offers five lessons from struggles and successes with CSR. A table displays average elementary…

Outcomes of the Orchard Plan, an experiment designed to reorganize funding to support new models of instructional delivery, are described in this report. Basic elements of the program include an extended school calendar; a reorganization of categorical funding into intersession enrichment courses for at-risk students; a reduction in class size…

Enrollment growth and a lack of classroom space influenced the school district of Jefferson County, Colorado, to consider a year-round school program. A study committee decided that a plan called Concept 6 was the most appropriate for addressing local needs. Under Concept 6, there would be six instructional terms; students would attend school for…

Recalls the problems encountered and the solutions offered when a school district put 1100 middle school students on a year-round schedule. Discovered an enormous benefit in class size reduction accompanied by daunting challenges involving scheduling and logistics. Includes a chart illustrating the rotational schedule of the orchestra. (MJP)

In 2002, the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) published the author's "Ten Educational Trends Shaping School Planning and Design" [ED467701], which received considerable attention and has been downloaded from the NCEF website by thousands of users. Here is an update by the author, with the ten trends expanded to twelve. This…

Planning for conversion to a year-round school in James Monroe School, Madera, California, began in 1984 as educators and community faced the fact that continued enrollment increases had reached a critical point. This report describes program development and implementation; an appendix with program worksheets comprises over one-half of the…