Describes the development of a high school physics curriculum from a small course to a large program involving general and advanced first year courses and an advanced placement program. Recruiting of students and curriculum revisions are also discussed. (TS)

Urges freshmen placement examinations for efficient matching of student abilities with course requirements. (IR)

Described is the Advanced Placement Program in Studio Art which encourages in-depth involvement by basing one-third of its requirements on the student's demonstrated ability to select and develop a project which makes greater demands than the usual assignment. This special project phase is described in depth. (KC)

This article discusses how schools can best meet the needs of precocious children by giving them access to higher level and more challenging instructional materials. Findings from a study of 40 precocious third and fourth graders are described and the benefits of acceleration are highlighted, particularly grade advancement and advanced placement…

Examines the use of advanced placement programs (AP) in Broward County, Florida, as an intervention strategy to narrow the achievement gap among student groups. Found that AP coursework can be extended to a wider range of students than previously thought, including minority students. (Contains 16 references, 7 tables, and 4 figures.) (Author/MLF)

Colleges have three types of admissions criteria: challenging course work, grades, and college admission test scores. Staff at a huge North Carolina high school found that offering challenging advanced-placement courses helped students get into selective colleges and graduate from them. The program benefited the entire school population. (MLH)

A problem with the construction of an inclusive definition of international education is that the word 'international' has a variety of connotations. It is proposed that the term 'international education' is ambiguous because it appears to refer to contrasting usages in educational studies. International education is frequently discussed in the…

When the author started as a geography teacher in an International Baccalaureate School (IB world school) 10 years ago she noticed more than a few analogies with the so-called "McWorld"--a term invented by Ritzer (1993, 1998) to refer to the global invasion of McDonald's Restaurants--and the IB world. More recently, geographers and…

Early College (EC) is an initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates, aimed at increasing access to higher education for underserved students. Launched in 2002, the Early College initiative focuses on the development of small schools in which high school students earn both a high school diploma and transferable college credits upon graduating…

This article reports the findings of the first audit of Advanced Placement (AP) courses. One of the more striking effects of the audit, the results of which were released recently by the College Board, was a steep drop in the number of schools offering Advanced Placement courses. After more than 30 years of steady growth, the number of schools…

After two years of teaching English, history, and wilderness survival in the Inupiaq Eskimo village of Wales, Alaska, the author moved in Brazil to teach English and Theory of Knowledge in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. His four years of experience at the International School of Curitiba have confirmed his belief that…

This article examines the issue of fostering vocational knowledge from an international perspective. It is based on the belief that 21 st-century students would benefit from a study of human endeavour that has an intercultural foundation. It identifies the aspects of knowledge that may be seen to comprise vocational knowledge and uses one…

School-within-a-school programs are an alternative school choice that can provide differentiated learning opportunities for academically gifted students, but they are often politically contentious. In a recent study, we interviewed 530 students and teachers in gifted and regular streams in three publicly funded secondary schools with different…