The authors, pioneers in detracking and in shrinking achievement gaps, pose a question: Is it possible to have all students in a large high school successfully complete a challenging curriculum that gives them practice in the habits and skills necessary for success in college? The answer, they say, "is a resounding yes." This article…

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…

Quint reports on a synthesis evaluation of three widely used high school reform models--Talent Development, First Things First, and career academies. She highlights approaches within each model that helped high schools restructure themselves in ways that affected student outcomes, particularly for struggling 9th graders and students from…

Describes an interdisciplinary pilot program for ninth graders at Bronxville (New York) High School using three teachers (representing social studies, English, and art) to teach an ancient history unit. The varied learning activities were based on the Coalition for Essential Schools' driving forces: personalization, the student as worker,…

A study of 200 rural Missouri teenagers revealed that this captive audience is hoodwinked by Channel One TV commercials. Some students viewed sportswear commercials as advertisements for athletes. Others mistook certain Pepsi commercials for public-service announcements. Repetition, testimonials, and bandwagon appeals are classic propaganda…

Each year, about 57 ninth graders cooperate with the managers of Mason Neck Wildlife Refuge, an eastern deciduous forest near the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in northern Virginia. Pursuing integrated studies in English, biology and technology, the students have inventoried a pond's biota, collected deer browse data, and…

Describes how an English teacher and a special-education teacher cooperated to teach a "mixed" ninth-grade class of regular students, special-education students, and others who found English difficult. For special-education students, being part of a large class meant making new friends and encountering numerous challenges. The special-education…

New 9th graders reflect on the worries they had as middle school students about moving into high school. They also suggest ways of easing the transition and providing support in 9th grade. Teens want teachers to connect middle school students regularly with high school students, give them more responsibility in middle school, and focus on…

Two years ago, Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington, committed to making each student's sojourn a personalized learning experience, even in a school of 1,500. The teachers at Shorecrest took a closer look at their student population and found out several unmet needs of the significant minority group of students. Among those findings…

With strong administrative and parental support, Hinsdale (Illinois) Central High School successfully launched an inclusive (and heterogeneous-grouping) policy with five special-needs ninth graders in fall 1995; eight others took some regular courses while remaining in their traditional special-education program. (MLH)