The author reports on a promise to name a chief academic officer as second in charge of the New York City schools which paved the way for Cathleen P. Black to succeed Joel I. Klein as the district's next chancellor. The compromise plan, announced amid intensifying debate over her selection by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, won a state waiver…

It's hard to imagine two schools superficially more different from each other than Blackstone Elementary, with its labyrinthine 1970s layout, and Orchard Gardens K-8 School, which opened in 2003, with its modern skylights and cheery primary-color accents. But they were similar in the way that matters most in young lives: Both Boston schools were…

This article reports that young inventors at a Maryland high school are not only learning scientific principles, but also teamwork and the tenets of patent law. Twice a week, 10 members of the Clarksburg High School's Coyote Inventors Club gather in a second-floor computer lab to peck away at building a deceptively simple device: a cable that…

Superficially, the Brooklyn Generation School, in the Flatbush area, looks a lot like the other six small public high schools that share space in this tall building, the former South Shore High School. What's noticeably different about it, though, is the strength of the relationships among staff members. Teachers can be seen running across the…

Teacher collaboration is hailed as one of the most effective ways to improve student learning, and one high school in Illinois is often credited with perfecting the concept. This article features Adlai E. Stevenson High School which was one of the first in the U.S. to embrace what are known as professional learning communities. The professional…

By pairing up core-subject teachers with traditional vocational education instructors, a Michigan district tries to show that rigor can be built into vocational programs. One teacher own contracting business, and still makes cabinets and renovates houses in his spare time. The other teacher's passion is math and science. He is certified in both of…

St. Louis University is one of a growing number of higher education institutions that are retooling their Doctor of Education, or Ed.D., programs to concentrate more on the practical skills required of district leaders. Such programs have emulated the structure of Ph.D. programs, despite the fact that they generally serve a different purpose. At…

This article discusses Mississippi's use of a reform model that helped dozens of schools that had failed to induce academic progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. In a forgotten corner of Mississippi's state capital, test scores are going up at a middle school for struggling students. The progress of students at risk of dropping out at the…