Donegan, an educational consultant specializing in 9th grade, asserts that when it comes to truly changing the freshman year, words abound but actions are few. Although everyone involved in the "high school conversation" agrees that the first year of high school is pivotal to success, few schools take on the challenge of truly reshaping…

Why are so many high school students bored, passive, and apathetic? Why do they typically perform adequately on assessments requiring recall and basic skills, but do poorly on tasks requiring application or careful analysis and explanation? The authors trace these problems to a lack of clarity about the goals of a high school education. The…

A Colorado high school dramatically increased its effectiveness after its staff committed to creating an intimate, nurturing environment for students. Achieving this mission involved teaching students the prosocial skills necessary to cope with any authoritarian system, creating a culture fostering positive relationships and cooperation,…

To compete more effectively in the global economy, the U.S. must reorganize the way people work in stores, factories, and elsewhere. Two factors hinder production of a highly educated work force: lack of a clear standard of achievement and insufficient student motivation. A new educational performance standard (Certificate of Initial Mastery) is…

Through their involvement with the Coalition of Essential Schools, the two high school teachers profiled here reenergized their daily lives and motivated their students toward exciting learning gains. Both teachers changed their practices because their students were not responding as they had hoped. Students' roles have also changed, as they…

Most young people in Europe and Asia move directly into primary labor market by age 21. The do-it-yourself system confronting most U.S. non-college-bound youth has resulted in high youth unemployment, shortages of adequately prepared youth entering the job market, and increasingly uncompetitive economy drifting to low-skill, low-wage jobs.…

If the labor market rewarded learning in school, high school students would respond by studying harder, and local voters would willingly pay higher taxes to finance better local schools. Instead of using rank in class or relative measurement standards, educators should measure student competency by external absolute standards, the way Scout merit…

In 1994, the Institute for Responsive Education launched the Responsive Schools Project (involving 14 schools in Las Cruces, New Mexico; Flambeau, Wisconsin; Harts, West Virginia; and Chicago) to ask parents, teachers, administrators, and high-school students about educational reform goals. Respondents' divergent viewpoints underscore the…

A San Diego English/journalism teacher is using technology to explore the writing process, increase student motivation, and present new material for classroom discussion. She spends more time as learning facilitator than all-knowing expert. With the help of hypermedia tools, her inner-city high school students are telling their own stories,…

Describes a New York City high school's experience with Outward Bound, a cooperatively funded experiential learning program. Rock climbing was used to teach youngsters how to deal with the metaphorical walls facing everyone. The program's success (a 90% graduation rate) depended on faculty commitment, administrative support, motivated student…

With 70 percent of its student body entering school reading below grade level, Blackstone Academy Charter School realized that teachers needed to make literacy a pillar of the school's culture. This 9-12 urban high school administers a reading evaluation developed by the Northwest Evaluation Association each fall and spring to all incoming…

Interviews with students at an alternative high school for at-risk students in Estes Park, Colorado, reveal their attitudes toward learning, the instructional program, and the learning environment. Finds, for example, that students value teachers who care and hands-on learning experiences. (PKP)

An English teacher's impromptu unit on social problems gave students opportunity to develop writing skills while expanding concept of community. While gathering data on diminishing rain forests (chosen topic), discussing research in small groups or workshops, interviewing community members, sending letters to political representatives, plugging…

Describes how a high school teacher successfuly organized, funded, and involved students and community members in an archaeological dig under the school's front lawn. (IW)

A high-school English teacher explains how she transformed her listless, "drive-thru" classes into "partnership" classes with highly motivated students eager to demonstrate and evaluate their skills. Students could work at their own best pace so long as the work got done and had acceptable quality. (MLH)