Educators are studying Northeast Missouri State University's "value-added" assessment programs, designed to measure how students are progressing in gaining specific intellectual skills. Its main feature is a series of tests that all students must take on entering the university and at the end of the sophomore year. (MLW)

Middle College High has run on the principle that underprivileged children are not to blame for their underachievement. They take children who are on the verge of dropping out and turn them into high-school graduates. La Guardia Community College administers the program and the school is on the La Guardia campus. (MLW)