Yet in most cases teachers seem to remain as committed to their students and as excited about their school as they had been during the original study. The composition of the student body has not changed significantly in most schools and students continue to show a high degree of motivation, achievement, involvement and vitality. Programs One-quarter of the schools have dropped some courses or programs targeted to the needs of particular populations of students, mostly because of budget cutbacks. Other innovations include mentoring programs in several schools, short-term course modules. and a program for parents. Most schools reported improvement in assessment results, graduation rates and the number of graduates going on to postsecondary studies.
All schools have at least limited access to the Internet and six have home pages.
By the beginning of the 1997-98 school year, six schools will be wired with a local area network. All respondents expressed satisfaction with the method used in the project and many complimented the researchers on how they approached their work. The 20 days of school visits made by the researchers was generally considered adequate to get a good picture of the school, and in a number of cases there has been ongoing contact between the researchers and the school. The Reports Most administrators had read the national report and the report of their school but many respondents had not seen the reports and there was generally little interest in the national report and the case studies of other schools. Many expressed disappointment with the style, approach and length of the national report and would have liked to see coherent sections dealing with individual schools.