The Times-Picayune
As her 16th birthday approached last summer, Curtisha Davis faced two less-than-ideal school choices. She could attend eighth grade at a K-8 program, where most of the students would be two, even three, years younger. Or she could go to Booker T. Washington, a school created for older students who have not yet passed the eighth grade, a place Davis feared after hearing of regular fights.
In Davis' view, either decision would carry a stigma: She would either be stuck with the little kids, or the "bad" ones...