« Routledge's Urban Reader Series | Main | Study: High School Graduation Rates Mis-reported »
June 21, 2005
Article: Project Choice Links Urban Students to Suburban Schools
The program has paired students from poor cities like Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport and New London with suburban school districts that have room to spare. And so every day, 200 children leave Bridgeport, joining the commuter conga lines on Interstate 95 and Route 15, to attend schools in the Fairfield County towns of Westport, Fairfield, Trumbull, Stratford, Monroe, Weston and Easton.
Demand is so strong for spots in those schools that when 13 openings materialized this spring, the agency that runs the lottery for the Fairfield County schools received 800 applications without advertising. Siblings get first crack, said Diane Wheeler, coordinator of the program in Fairfield County, followed by children in schools identified as failing under the No Child Left Behind Act.