Hands-On Learning

By Continued

"Too often, a central-government agency--whether it's federal or state--is very removed from the realities of children's lives," says Theodore R. Sizer, the chairman of the Coalition of Essential Schools, a national school reform network. "The policies often miss the mark. The people who write the policies don't understand the human dimension."

Sizer provided the critical link between the Department of Education and the Maya Angelou School. James Forman Jr., one of the school's founders, is a Brown graduate whose undergraduate adviser pointed him to Sizer for advice on starting the school.

"I said to him: 'Run, don't walk, to the secretary's office and find...