"You're going to measure my accomplishment by how much they learn," Goode says. "But all I can do is take a kid from where they are, as far as they can go."

When the bell rings, Khalilah tells me the test was easy.

"Am I winning with these kids? I think I am," Goode says. "With most of them--with others I'm just trying."

Third period. Instead of going to Computer Education, Khalilah heads for a Student Council meeting in the cafeteria. With about 60 others, she flips through glossy jewelry catalogues the student council is using to raise funds.

"We're gonna sell!" Khalilah tells a group huddled around her. If her group sells 125 items of jewelry, they will earn $150 from the company. She looks over her shoulders at another group and says, "They ain't gonna do it 'cause they got boys."

After the meeting, Khalilah plays Tetris and Pac-Man in Computer Education class. The rest of the class is also playing games.

When the bell rings, grinning Rinaldo tells me to write, "Everybody likes to make noise."

Between periods, the halls echo with students running between lockers and friends. Every few yards a teacher stands in the middle of the hall to keep everyone walking on the right side.

Khalilah walks confidently through the chaos, her back straight, her backpack strapped to both shoulders.

Reading class. There are only six students in this class, in a small, bright room.

They take a vocabulary quiz on words like "terrific," "church," "curious," "stair," "noisy" and "question." When Michelle asks for a hint, the teacher responds with the first letter of the answer. "I'm not supposed to do this," she says.

After this they take another test to practice for next week's Metropolitan Achievement Test.

"They didn't design this book right," Khalilah says, pointing at the test booklet. And she is right--a drawing of a "dark winter day" shows people in short sleeved t-shirts.

Math class. Ms. Jorsling, a big woman wearing a wide red cardigan and long blue skirt, says very little during the entire period.

At the beginning of class, she calls in an assistant principal. "These girls won't stop their gum-popping," she says in a clipped accent. After the assistant principal warns the students to stop, the teacher turns slowly to the blackboard to continue writing notes.