The Schools of Opportunity Project recognizes public high schools that employ research-based practices to close opportunity gaps. The commended schools illustrate how school quality can and should be measured by far more than just test scores. In doing so, they offer exemplars and a path forward for the nation's schools. The selection criteria for…

Milwaukee's gay-friendly Alliance High School was conceived to be a welcoming and confirming school for kids who have been teased and bullied and had their interests marginalized in traditional schools. The result is a group of teens who feel they have found a safe place as they explore who they will be and how they will live the rest of their…

In a protracted case involving a varsity basketball coach's refusal to select a problem parent's son, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided the suit was frivolous and ordered the parent to pay $2,500 in court fees. This case illustrates the intersection of three American excesses--litigiousness, athletics, and divorce. (MLH)

A study of 24 Friends high schools nationwide concluded that conflict is the cruciform spawning individual moral growth and the primary locus for moral growth in adolescents. Instead of avoiding conflict, educators must engage students in responses to conflict that are nonviolent, creative, and peace-promoting. (MLH)

After 4 years of debate, the National Collegiate Athletic Association agreed in January 2000 to accept high-school principals' descriptions of their courses, rather than to continue judging courses through the clearinghouse. Persistence, a sense of humor, and sympathetic journalists aided the protest effort. (MLH)