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Melissa McDonough: Cycles of Reform
The drop out dilemma is not a new problem. Back in the sixties, one of the answers was to create alternative schools, places like career schools, schools without walls, continuation schools and magnet schools. They targeted at-risk youth, dropouts and special education. Like many of the reforms being offered today alternative schools were small, encouraged strong student teacher relationships, and had relative autonomy.
One such alternative school, the Emiliano Zapata street academy opened in 1973 and was an outgrowth of the civil rights movement. The idea was to literally pull truant kids off the streets and back into school. The academy has remained true to its original mission for 30 years, bucking all the trends of school reform. But as Melissa McDonough reports, the federal No Child Left Behind act may threaten the school's recipe for success.
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