Can you give me more direction as to finding this research or any of the schools? The only difficulty for us (in NY State) is Carnige Units and graduation. If they only take the two courses, they will never accumulate the credits they need in time to graduate in four years (22.5 credits) and have the number of exams they need (5) for a regular Regents exam let alone a Regents with Distinction (7) or one with honors. I'd need to look into how they are doing it and what happends once they add in courses - which I'm very willing to do. Thanks for the lead!

Lynn Canady is doing some very interesting research- I think there are ten schools across the country involved. By reworking the ninth grade schedule, kids are able to focus on two courses (math and English) with the remediation they need to gain mastery and confidence. Then they gradually add in other classes. I don't know all the details of it but it sounds very promising.