ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes what the authors' have learned from their comparative and evaluative studies on enrichment clusters in both urban and suburban districts and schools. They have implemented enrichment clusters in small and large schools, in schools with outstanding administrative and faculty support and in those with more limited support. The schools they have used as pilots have also had a range of levels of financial support. Quantitative methods included descriptive procedures, and qualitative procedures included observations, interviews, and questionnaire data gathered through participant observation. In one study parents in both of the treatment schools held improved perceptions about enrichment opportunities after the implementation of the cluster program. Enrichment clusters also influenced teaching methods, with 86% of the teachers who reported that clusters had influenced their classrooms indicating that the influence had been in the area of teaching methods. Ninety-five percent of the cluster facilitators indicated that they used new, advanced concepts.
