Taxonomy of Exemplary Secondary School Programs in the State of California

"A research project undertook to develop a system whereby information could be exchanged about exemplary secondary school programs within California. A survey was sent to 375 randomly selected districts throughout the State requesting information about model programs dealing with any of the following: curriculum, staffing patterns, office organization, gifted programs, slow learner programs, programs for the emotionally disturbed, individualized learning, advisory committees, career and vocational education, the use of department chairmen, or other innovative programs. The returned data were organized into a taxonomy of educational programs in order to facilitate easy retrieval. The six major categories of 1) alternative education, 2) career-vocational education, 3) curriculum, 4) instructional techniques, 5) management, and 6) special education were developed; subcategories were constructed for each of the foregoing and programs arranged alphabetically in each class. Each of the more than 800 citations in the taxonomy supplies information on the program's title, a description of its features, the district's name, location and chief characteristics, and the person to contact for additional details."