The growing prominence of high-stakes exit examinations has made questions about their effects on student outcomes increasingly important. We take advantage of a natural experiment to evaluate the causal effects of failing a high-stakes test on high school completion for the cohort scheduled to graduate from Massachusetts high schools in 2006.…

Describes the course "Bronx as Art" that was taught to 10th grade students from the Bronx Regional High School (New York) and was funded by the Bronx Council on the Arts. Explains that the students explored their self-images and experiences with their neighborhood. Provides background information on the school and students. (CMK)

A collaborative pilot program between Oakland Unified School District (California), University of California at Berkeley, and Cooperative Extension uses the Internet to teach urban teens about insects. Students catch, identify, mount, and photograph insects; photographs are then digitized for inclusion in the "City Bugs" Web site, which…

In the third year of Lincoln-Sudbury's Alternate Semester program, 22 students participated, with 2 teachers sharing responsibilities in a new program format: a fall planning unit; a 10-day stay in Grafton, Vermont; a 15-week period spent alone or in small groups, working and living in urban and/or rural settings for modules of time dictated by…

Describes Project Austin-East EXCEL, a pilot college preparatory program for inner-city minority high school students in Knoxville (Tennessee). Develops an "academic ethos" through the following components: (1) reading, writing, and foreign language program; (2) "demystification" of the college experience; and (3) career…