WASHINGTON, D.C. A half dozen education improvement programs that AFT leaders believe are good enough to be adopted nationwide were at the forefront of the annual AFT QuEST meeting here. Most of the break out sessions for the more than 2,000 members focused on the programs.

They included:

• Advanced Placement, high school courses sponsored by the College Board that provide high level content and college credit for those who pass the exams satisfactorily.
• Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition, cooperative learning strategies for reading, writing, comprehension, and other literacy skills for grades 2 8.
• Core Knowledge Sequence, rigorous content for grades K-8 based in the ideas of E.D. Hirsch, Jr. (who received the 1997 QuEST Award).
• Direct Instruction, highly structured instruction for grades K 6 and remedial students.
• Equity 2000, a College Board program to ensure that all students enroll in high school college preparatory algebra and geometry courses.
• High Schools that Work, a network sponsored by the Southern Regional Education Board to improve the academic content of vocational education.
• International Baccalaureate, a high school program that prepares students for college admission or advanced placement in American universities around the world.
• Success for All, research based reading instruction program for the primary grades.

At a plenary session of the QuEST meeting, however, the participants heard a slightly different list of necessary support or programs for children and young people, especially in the urban areas. Hugh Price, head of the Urban League, said there were four strategies that educators and communities must adopt. If not, he warned, "there are forces pushing more radical change at the door." Because what works is well determined, Price said, "we have entered a `no excuses' era of reform." His priorities included: quality pre kindergarten programs, quality teaching and teachers, end of academic tracking, and after school and summer opportunities for young people's hours "to be filled with caring adults."