Nearly 700 Teams Submit School-Design Overhauls

By Lynn Olson

WASHINGTON--Nearly 700 teams from around the country have submitted their best ideas for how to teach children and run schools to the New American Schools Development Corporation, in hopes of receiving millions of dollars in funding.

"We've had a response that frankly I did not dream of or envision,'' said Thomas H. Kean, the chairman of the corporation, in announcing the number of proposals at a press conference here last week.

"The preliminary designs we've received go way beyond tinkering with the present education system,'' he added. "They seek a dramatic overhaul of the way...