With soaring costs and double-digit truancy, increasing illiteracy and steadily falling Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, many American high schools are clearly in trouble. This week's cover story examines the plight of U.S. secondary education today and profiles three high schools not burdened with the special, severe social problems of the inner cities.
The three: Medford High in a Bos ton suburb, Marshfield High in Coos Bay, Ore., and West High in Iowa City, Iowa.
The story was written by Education Editor Annalyn Swan and researched by Reporter-Researcher Ellie McGrath. Both are recent college graduates...