Education Writers Association

November 8, 2009

San Diego

Libia Gil, Senior Fellow

Small Schools and High School Reform: Shrinking Size, Diminishing Returns?

TRENDS

Small Schools Movement and Growth

• Charters/CMOs• Drop-Out Prevention• College and Career Pathways• Middle/Early College• Portfolio – Options, Choice &

Competition

TRENDS

Historic Development – local community based, organic process and student centered i.e. Alternative and Free Schools, specialized such as arts, etc.

Redefining Purpose -solution to replace low performing schools BMGF SLC ARRA - Turnarounds

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TRENDS

• Emphasizing district as the unit of change…whole system reform

• Inadequate attention to historical, political, cultural, social and emotional context for change

• What is the cumulative impact on recipients of change vs. initiators?

TRENDS

• Replication• What works?• Developing cookie cutters?

• Scale• Mass production of best practices?• Reproduction line

• Sustainability• How institutionalize?• Community role

TRENDS

Effectiveness Findings*

• Positive learning culture• Close relationships• Common focus• Mutual respect and responsibility

• Redesigned schools slower change rates

than new schools

*Creating Cultures for Learning...2005

TRENDS

• More relevant assignments to real

world and student lives

• Higher rigor in English/language

arts; low rigor in mathematics

• Quality of student work poor

• Changes in teaching and learning

lag behind structural change

TRENDS

• Generally enrolled underserved students behind academically

• New schools exhibited more positive trend in reading scores (not math)

• Attendance at new schools generally higher; Redesign schools need to address

*AIR/SRI Executive Summary: Evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s High School Grants, 2001-2004.

TRENDS

• Overall evidence confirms a more positive learning culture for both students and teachers.

• Critical Issues• Instructional focus – T & L• Sustainability - beyond 3-5 years• Student Outcomes – “Value Added”

TRENDS

Evidence on school size effects*

“clearly favors smaller schools. Students who traditionally struggle at school and students from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds are the major benefactors of smaller schools.”

* Leithwood and Jantzi, Review of empirical evidence about school size effects: A policy perspective. 2009

*References

• AIR/SRI. (2003a). Charting a course: Evaluation design of the National School District and Network Grants Program. Washington, DC: American Institutes for Research.

• AIR/SRI. (2003b). High time for high school reform: Early findings from the evaluation of the National school District and Network Grants Program. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International

• AIR/SRI. (2005) Creating cultures for learning: Supportive relationships in new and redesigned high schools.

*References

• AIR/SRI. (2005). Rigor, relevance, and results in new and conventional high schools.

• AIR/SRI. (2005). Getting to results: Early student outcomes in new and redesigned high schools.

• AIR/SRI. Executive Summary: Evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s High School Grants, 2001-2004

BASIC ISSUES Labels/Definitions

Small learning communities vs.

Small autonomous schools Schools within schools vs. Academies Redesign vs. New independent

Purpose/Common Vision The single solution or panacea Portfolio of options

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IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

• Human Capital/Resources• Staffing Flexibility – Selection and Placement• Pipeline Development

• Autonomy • Decision-making on people, time, instructional program and money customized to support student needs• Accountability for immediate results

•Fiscal

ISSUE: How is Small School Structure Leveraged?

What can you do differently in a small school that you can’t

do in a large school ?

ISSUES

“Small schools can be crafted with an eye toward broad-based equity, or they can become creaming “tracks” within public secondary education”. (M. Fine, Rethinking Schools, 2005)

Suggested Reading

Learning Supports and Small Schools

Spring, 2009. Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor

New Small Learning Communities: Findings from Recent Literature, 2001. Kathleen Cotton

“External” Organizations and the Politics of Urban

Educational Leadership: The Case of New Small Autonomous Schools Initiatives, 2009 Meredith Honig

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