Blanche Pope's Accelerated Schools Project: What a Difference a Year Makes.

This document describes an accelerated school project adopted in 1993 at the Blanche Pope Elementary School in the rural Oahu community of Waimanalo, Hawaii. The project is based on the key concept of "powerful learning," a belief that the education provided for gifted and talented children works well for all children. Every learning experience has three interrelated dimensions--what is learned, how it is learned, and the context in which it is learned. Two key processes used to transform students' learning experiences include formal processes and individual innovation. Formal processes include taking stock, forging a vision, forming governance structures, and using the Inquiry process. Innovations at the individual level typically are experiential, hands-on, interactive, and responsive learning experiences that teachers bring into their classrooms. The development phase included inservice training sessions, a school needs-assessment survey, and shared decision making. Ongoing activities include data collection, staff participation in professional development ol?ortunities, and evaluation. (LMI) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************