Anthony L. Copas worked as a senior research engineer in a Boston chemical plant, making more than $30,000 a year, but he decided to join the Ed School program because "I spent seven years in industry and found myself moving farther and farther from science. I wanted to get back to it, and do something meaningful with my life," he says.

Tuition at the Ed School now runs $8320 a year for masters students and Copas says that forfeiting his salary and playing tuition "have been a shock to my financial structure. I have loans to pay as a result."

But in his decision to change careers, Copas says money "wasn't the all-powerful, all-driving force. I think I can be a good teacher, and the nation needs good math and science teachers."

A Place for Principals

"For a guy who's been in education for 30 years, I was starting to run out of gas. The Principals' Center was the juice I needed," says John E. Oser, principal of a Falmouth, Mass. elementary school.

More than 550 principals from across the country have joined the center at the $120 membership price, and anywhere from 10 to 100 participate in the center's weekly events, which include workshops, discussions and lectures geared toward improving school supervision.

"We hope to further the profession growth of the practicing principal, because principals who are learning and growing will be more effective school leaders," says Kenneth S. Haskins, one of the center's co-directors.

Oser, who made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Falmouth every week last year to attend the center's events, calls the center an "educational marketplace. When I come back to Falmouth I try to generate the same kind of excitement about the ideas to the other administrators and principals in my district."

The Principals' Center came about as a key recommendation of Barth's report, but members emphasize that although the Ed School founded and houses the program, it is run for the most part by the principals themselves.

"Harvard set up the opportunity for us to get together," says Alvin V. Fortune, principal of Brookline's Pierce School. "Initially we might have been apprehensive about Harvard's role in the program, but we aren't anymore"

School Leadership

In addition to these two ventures, the Ed School has initiated a variety of smaller programs, including:

* A Master's concentration in Schooling and School Leadership. The one-year program--which does not lead to teacher certification--is designed for students interested in school administration and more effective teaching methods. The Ed School added a cluster of new courses this fall for the new degree.

* Summer workshops for writing and social studies instructors to improve their teaching skills.

* A program known as the Ed-Tech Center, funded by a $7.7 million Department of Education grant. The center studies how computers and other technology can be used to improve teaching of math and science.