SMALL LEARNING COMMUNITIES CHART



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 |.

ecoliteracy.

org/pages/

newsletter1

_common.

html |11-

27-

02 |Berkeley,

California |BHS website = 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 |csmonitor |10/21/02 |Denver |Principal: Nancy Sutton |HS |Afr-Amer & Hisp 1050 |Science/Match

1. Businnes/Govt

2. Lang & Arts |Gates Found. Grant

$500K-5 years |1st year, communication issues

25 new Teachers

| |Break Up Suburbs | |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 |Advisory Period (9:1 student/ teacher ratio three times per week);

➢ Targeting former dropouts and students at risk for dropping out to attend (School of SJ);

➢ Demographics of school population mirrors demographic of local large school (Life Acad);

➢ Goals are for all students to graduate, for the majority of graduates to go on to 4-year colleges;

➢ Long class periods (2 ½ hours);

➢ 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 | |

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