REVIEW OF SMALL LEARNING COMMUNITIES - SPECIFIC MODELS

ARTICLE / SOURCE / DATE / CITY / SCHOOL DISTRICT INFO/ POSSIBLE CONTACT / TYPE OF SCHOOL / SCHOOL POPULATION / SLC STRUCTURE / SPECIFIC FEATURES / FUNDING SOURCES / OUTSIDE PARTNERS / NOTES / Use for PD?
Small HS Proposed to Beat the Achievement Gap / The Seattle Times / October 21, 2002 / Seattle, WA / Eric Benson, Hale HS, Seattle WA / Proposed SLC Leadership High School / 300-400 / To be located in a neighborhood of low achieving, crowded schools not presently served by magnets that are mostly located in higher SES areas of the city / District
Seattle Education Association (Booster?)
Cross City Campaign (nonprofit gp advocating small, autonomous schools) / Budget problems - do not want to fund if hurts existing schools
Resegregation
Does the neighborhood want it?
NO
Santa Monica High School Model / Santa Monica High / Santa Monica / Redesign of administrative structure required:
Each school led by
One administrator
Two advisers
One teacher leader
Teachers divided up between the schools.
Departments broken up.
Each school self sufficient to provide a complete high school curriculum to the students. / Comphrehensive High School / 3600 students
Mixed population
White: 50%
Hispanic: 31%
Af-Amer.: 11% / Purpose of the SLC design:
Foster relationships
Opportunities for teacher collaboration
Direct impact on achievement
Guiding Principles:
Personalization
Intellectual Mission
Community Partnership
Professional Learning Community
Six Characteristics the smaller communities have in common.
  1. Structure
  2. Instructional Program(UC/CSU)
  3. Elective Program
  4. Collaborative Time
  5. Extra Curricular/Co curricular activities
  6. Academic Support
/ Barriers to implementation:
Lack of adequate team planning
Lack of time for adequate planning and implementation
Lack of professional development time for staff.
LAUSD Fact Sheet / LAUSD / Los Angeles / LAUSD / district / all / Proposed benefits of the redesign:
Eliminate impersonal feelings and disengagement
Allow familiarity and personalization
Forge real connections between teachers and students
Support High Expectations
Seven Characteristics:
Personalization
Vision and leadership
Use of space
Identity
Accountability
Quality teaching
Equity and access / Marked by return to 180 day calendar for all schools
Dividing up a large school into houses which exist under a central services structure defeats the purpose and removes the personalization.
High Schools Think Smaller / SACBEE News / Sacramento CA / Sacramento City Unified School District – Starting at Sacramento High School and being partially implemented at the district’s other four schools.
Contact: Richard Owen, Associate Superintendent for High School Improvement / High School (Gr. 9 – 12) / 1800 / Program known as e21. Program being phased in for ninth graders as SLC for groups of no more than
100 students. Teachers, students stay together as a 2 year core for English, Math, Science. Teachers share a preparation period. When pilot ninth graders reach grades 11-12, they will participate in a themed SLC of students’choice, which could be health care, math science or high-tech. / Carnegie Corporation, planning grant of $250,000. School competing for larger amount of implementation dollars. / 4 other high schools may have SLC of up to 250 students
Small School Learning: Berkeley High School’s Common Ground / http://www.
ecoliteracy.
org/pages/
newsletter1
_common.
html / 11-
27-
02 / Berkeley,
California / BHS website = www.bhs.berkeley.k12.ca.us/
commonground.html / Not identified in article, but according to description in article, this school would be classified as SWAS
Called “Small Schools” locally / Grades 9-12
Total school pop = 3200
SWAS student pop = 400
Current SWAS 9th grade pop = 120
SWAS teacher pop = 14 / Students self-select
Class size = 30 (same as BHS)
Student has 3 classes/semester
60% curriculum = core for grad
40% curriculum = electives
specific to ecology/ecoliteracy
Curriculum includes “outdoor
classroom” experiences and
overseas trips / $ - Center for Ecoliteracy, U.S. Dept of Educ
Smaller, Safer, Saner, Successful Schools / Center for School Change / New York City / El Puente Academy / Shared Facility / Low income / Human service programs on site / Human service program / Student & family access to health care, counseling & literacy training
3 Schools-1 Building / www.csmonitor / 10/21/02 / Denver / Principal: Nancy Sutton / HS / Afr-Amer & Hisp 1050 / 1.  Science/Match
2.  Businnes/Govt
3.  Lang & Arts / Gates Found. Grant
$500K-5 years / 1st year, communication issues
25 new Teachers
Break Up Suburbs / www.edweek.org / 11/27/02 / Suburb of Cincinnati / West Clermon Local SD / HS - 2 / Ethnic-?
2300 stdts. / 7 SLC’s-450 per comty.
Defines “small” as 400-900 / Gates-800k
Corning-800k (matching)
KnowledgeWorks-125k / Teachers visited SLC, not Central Ofc
Board members meet w/ Teachers weekly
References Dallas HS
Very good article
Revolution at Oakland Unified / East Bay Express / October 23, 2002 / Oakland / Oakland Calif.
Life Academy—
Principal: Laura Flaxman
School of Social Justice—Principal: Wilson Riles, Jr.
Superintendent: Dennis Chaconas (supported these schools) / Freestanding School / Life Academy: 250 students, School of Social Justice: 400 students / Ø  Advisory Period (9:1 student/ teacher ratio three times per week);
Ø  Targeting former dropouts and students at risk for dropping out to attend (School of SJ);
Ø  Demographics of school population mirrors demographic of local large school (Life Acad);
Ø  Goals are for all students to graduate, for the majority of graduates to go on to 4-year colleges;
Ø  Long class periods (2 ½ hours);
Ø  Students explore their own interests; juniors and seniors have long-term projects to be evaluated by a graduation committee; / Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools,
Oakland Community Organizations,
Coalition of Essential Schools, Oakland CA / -Challenge in developing curriculum with focus on critical thinking as well as state and district mandates
-Oakland’s goal is to have 20% of all students attending small schools by end of 2005
-Unclear as to how students are recruited for Life Academy—it seems to be voluntary, but there is no information on how students recruit
-Article mentions sizable start-up costs, says those costs were covered by Gates Foundation

1