During the first year of the project, Harvard worked with Roxbury to develop "clustering," a system in which six teachers worked together as a group and taught core courses to all ninth graders. "We had something going," Nancy Banton, a math teacher said. Math teacher Chuck Williams said the cluster had close contact with Harvard and the cluster's structure facilitated field trips and utilization of resources in general. Over the summer, the city transferred 13 teachers, including two of the six cluster teachers, to other schools. This year the cluster did not start up again, and the remaining teachers are discouraged. "We've stopped scurrying out for new resources," Banton said.

One of the biggest disappointments of the Roxbury/Harvard project is that slightly over half of Roxbury's teachers remain uninvolved with the inservice workshops and apparently uninterested in the project. Banton argues that until the project involves the faculty, it can only supplement Roxbury education--it can't really change it.

The reason for low teacher participation, everyone agrees, is that the Roxbury schedule does not include time for teachers to get together and plan during the school day. The only time available is after school when some teachers have commitments. Additionally, teachers argue, it's not fair to expect them to stay after school when they have five days of teaching and administrative duties.

Teachers need to be paid for taking part, but the project doesn't have the money, Grant says. When her office identifies Harvard resources that Roxbury might find useful, it sends the information to the liason and to faculty members for whom it seems appropriate. Grant adds that the program tries to follow up by contacting faculty members individually.

Grant places a heavy emphasis on keeping all aspects of the project a joint venture between the two schools. Each of the major programs has a Harvard coordinator and a counterpart from the Roxbury faculty. These are not programs Harvard has lodged in the school, Grant said. "All the decisions have to go through the headmaster, and I try to have faculty committees."

Even so, Nancy O'Neill, last year's liason to Harvard, said, "Harvard runs the program. They have full-time staff people who have a handle on what's going on." The only people involved at Roxbury, she added, work full-time teaching.

Charles Ray and Joyce Grant worked together when Grant was director of alternative services at the University of Massachusetts, and one of her programs involved working at Roxbury High. Their proven ability to work together, Grant said, plus her 16 years working in various capacities with Boston schools, were probably the reasons Harvard tapped her. Charles Ray, a soft spoken man, is unpreturbed by Harvard's strong influence in the project's direction. "Joyce Grant," he says, "has a better understanding of people in high school than anyone here, including me."

One of the most striking things about talking to both Harvard and Roxbury people is the extreme caution with thich they speak of the project. No one wants to blame any of the delays, problems, or missed opportunities on anyone from the other school. One misstep, Harvard fears, and Roxbury faculty will lose all interest in assistance. One disparagement of Harvard efforts, Roxbury fears, and Harvard will quit them.

But the caution, even the tension surrounding this delicate alliance suggests something positive about its potential. None of the people involved are completely satisfied with the project, but almost everyone seems to believe something worthwhile, something they do not want to risk upsetting is taking place.