Each of the following 24 brief case studies is based on semi-structured interviews that occurred on site at the school. Based upon the framework created by standard prompt questions within each semi-structured interview, the reader will find similarity among these case studies. Yet, each semi-structured interview session can and does have its unique character, resulting in the variance which the reader will find when comparing the following case studies.
The varying lengths of the following case studies is, to an extent, determined by the number of student groups who demonstrated high growth. This number of student groups dictated the number of personnel interviewed and the length of time the researchers spent at the site.
Because the Promising Practices Project is based on students’ rate of academic gain between the Spring 2003 and Spring 2004 administrations of the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT10), the school year of study is 2003-04. Hence, the school description and the student demographics are those of 2003-04, not the current school year.
