Rochelle Gutiérrez has spent 15 years researching effective, urban high school mathematics departments that served Black, Latin@ and low-income adolescents (see, e.g., Gutiérrez, 1996, 1999a, 1999b, 2000, 2002). These were schools where students took more mathematics than was required by their district; where English learners, recent immigrants,…

Concurrent enrollment programs provide academic challenges for high school students and also provide a strong foundation for career and technical education programs. The state of Utah is one of the leaders in concurrent enrollments, providing funding for high schools to adopt such programs across the state, and Weber State University in Ogden,…

Superior high school business students should be given the same opportunity to participate in advanced placement programs as that given to those with more traditional academic interests. (JOW)

American science teachers in elementary and middle school face a dilemma as they prepare students for high school physics and advanced placement classes. The dilemma lies in ensuring that these students are equipped with the high-level science content they need to thrive in such classes. Aside from life sciences and chemistry sciences, how are our…

As a superintendent of the Bellevue School District, the author discusses the Bellevue School District's curriculum and its ongoing development. The mission of the Bellevue School District is to give every student the kind of education traditionally reserved for America's elite class or, stated another way, to give every student a first-rate,…

Questions the assumptions upon which grade weighting is founded and explores how different groups will likely be affected by this approach. Concludes that weighted grades work against social justice, largely by penalizing those students who are least likely to take college preparatory courses--that is, poor and minority students. (Contains 16…

This document looks at the academic reasons why states should take seriously the use of Web-based courses provided by state virtual schools to improve student access to quality teachers and quality courses. State virtual schools are not about technology, but rather about using today's technology to meet the tremendous academic needs of middle…

Opening up advanced placement English to all students willing to undergo a rigorous summer and yearlong regimen of writing and reading provided a Richmond (California) high school teacher with some positive insights about cooperative learning activities for mixed-ability students. Giving students the chance to work at the highest academic levels…

This panel interview from the Indiana University Summer Arts Institute examines unique needs of high school students in the Indiana University Campus Program, including peer group establishment, selection of a leader and staff, and provision of challenging confidence-building experiences in what is for many students the most competitive…

Recommends that secondary educators interested in high school reform should read three reports (two regarding advanced placement and one regarding minority achievement), and should become familiar with a reading program (the Formula-Three Language Processing program) with documented success at all grade levels. (SR)

The Challenge Index ranks high schools according to how many students take AP and IB exams, not on how well they do or how many pass. This index is published in Newsweek and the magazine calls it "America's Best High Schools." In this article, the author, also the creator of this index, answers some frequently asked questions about the index and…

Discusses the Advanced Placement (AP) Physics program in the U.S. in terms of which of its aspects may be applied to education in the United Kingdom. Suggests that a British AP scheme giving access to introductory-level college physics for the brightest students may be needed in light of proposed A-level curriculum changes in the U.K. (Author/WRM)

A recently released National Research Council (NRC) report, "Learning and Understanding: Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in U.S. High Schools", evaluated and recommended changes in the Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and other advanced secondary school science programs. As part of this study,…

This article presents the author's views on the present situation of American high schools. The current American high school system fails in satisfying the demands placed upon it by all sectors of American society in all classes, regions and ethnicities. He further points out several problems. Along with it, he discusses some academic adjustments…

A teacher of an advanced placement English class of over-stressed, over-busy, and rebellious gifted seniors describes how she used Kafka's "Metamorphosis" to help them adjust to this transitional period in their lives while keeping all reading and assignments within the class period. (DB)