ARE SMALLER SCHOOLS THE ANSWER?
Big high schools hinder learning, some teachers say
Granholm proposal would cut enrollments to 400
February 18, 2008
BY LORI HIGGINS
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
Dozens of high schools -- including 43 in metro Detroit -- could be chopped into pieces in coming years as a movement to break their big populations into smaller chunks gains steam in Michigan.
It's a practice already seen from Huron Valley Schools in Oakland County to Chippewa Valley Schools in Macomb County, where school districts are finding ways to turn large, impersonal high schools into smaller communities.
And now Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants the Legislature to endorse a plan she announced last month to create the 21st Century Schools Fund, which would allow schools that enroll more than 800 students and fail to meet goals of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law for two years or more to create small high schools of 400 students.
But are small schools the answer? Research has been mixed on an increasingly popular way to achieve the small-school effect -- by creating schools within schools -- with many findings showing that simply going smaller is not a panacea.
Yet John Telford, a teacher and curriculum leader at Finney High School in Detroit Public Schools, says he believes it can save urban schools.
"Is this the way to go? There's no question. This is the answer," Telford said.
But he doesn't have to look far to find dissent. Dominique Harris, a Finney junior, is unconvinced. Though Finney would be eligible for the money, she doesn't like the idea of breaking up her school's population of nearly 1,000 students.
"I don't think they should do that. It's not going to change anything. It's just going to make a whole bunch of little schools," with the same problems as the big schools, Dominique said.
And just last year, University of Michigan education professor Valerie E. Lee coauthored a book that tells a cautionary tale about the method of breaking large high schools into schools-within-schools.
"People are grasping at straws," said Lee, who also is a faculty associate with U-M's Survey Research Center. "Schools within schools is seen as the new magic bullet that's going to save large urban high schools. Maybe so. But not in the way that most people are going to do it."
Teaching is the focus
Many school districts in metro Detroit already have invested time and money into creating smaller, more personal high school environments.
Advocates say smaller schools allow students to have better relationships with their teachers, staff to have more support, administrators to have autonomy and the focus to be on discipline and teaching that is relevant to what will matter in the real world.
Southfield Public Schools is opening a new small high school next fall that will focus on math, science, technology and engineering. The district already has five academies at its two high schools -- each with separate themes such as arts and communications, medicine and natural sciences, and engineering and manufacturing -- in an effort to not only expose students to careers but to create smaller learning environments.
Southfield High enrolls 1,400 students, but it doesn't feel that way to Malcolm Hayes, a senior. He's enrolled in the engineering academy, and though he takes core classes such as language arts and math with students from across the school, the rest are with his peers in the academy.
"We share a lot in common," said Malcolm, 17, of Southfield. "We're able to connect more than with students I have in my English classes. We share interests."
At Lakeland High School in White Lake Township, the district created ninth-grade teams several years ago, in which students are divided into groups of about 90 students and paired with three teachers who teach core classes such as math, language arts and science within a three-hour block.
Shannon Schwarb, a Lakeland math teacher, likes sharing the same group of students with her colleagues. If she notices a student struggling, she can talk to her teammates to see if they're noticing the same difficulties.
And with high school graduation standards getting tougher, students need to have better relationships with their teachers, she said.
"That's why the teams are important, because it gives them that extra support. It makes them feel more comfortable."
Lakeland also has divided its school into two sections, with freshmen and sophomores occupying one side of the building and the upper-class students occupying the other side, another effort at creating smaller environments for kids.
The efforts seem to be paying off. Lakeland Principal Bob Behnke said the school's ACT composite scores have increased faster than the state and national averages.
Although Lakeland's ninth-grade teams share a building with older students, Chippewa Valley Schools is taking a different approach. Two ninth-grade academies are opening in September, one adjacent to Dakota High School and the other next to Chippewa Valley High.
Both academies are expected to enroll 600 students, reducing the population at Dakota from 2,500 and Chippewa Valley from 2,200, said Ed Skiba, executive director of secondary education.
"We're trying to create a separate culture that tells kids that we're all in this together," Skiba said.
Making school more personal
The small-school method is working for Jules Cooch of Pinckney, an 18-year-old who attends a small school of 330 students.
"It's one-on-one; it's really personalized. Someone is actually saying to you ... that you matter," said Cooch, a senior at the Washtenaw Technical Middle College, where students can graduate with not only a high school diploma, but a technical certificate or an associate's degree, in four years.
Programs like the one Cooch attends were touted by Granholm as examples of small schools that work.
Fifteen high schools in Detroit and about 28 other schools in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties would be eligible for the funds Granholm wants to make available, though the priority would be on the nearly two dozen schools with serious academic troubles.
Those pushing for the small schools say they'll keep kids in school and produce graduates who are prepared for postsecondary education, whether that be a 4-year university, community college or trade program.
"If you can make school more personal and have kids have ongoing relationships with teachers in smaller settings, you really tap into their motivation, their willingness to stay in school," said State Superintendent Mike Flanagan.
Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-351-3694 or lhiggins@freepress.com.
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4 comments:
Folks:
Perhaps a change in the prescribed medicine (curriculum and pedagogy) is in order instead of merely changing the dosage. In other words smaller doses of the wrong thing will not produce the right thing (remedy).
Doctor Jim
It has been my personal observation that the huge campus style of high schools can be overwhelming to a student.One of my Daughters graduated from a high school that had a class of six. The Northern Michigan school is located on an Island and boasts some of the highest test scores compared to the national average. that doesn't mean that the students are better overall prepared to met the challenges of the world head on though. Life in any shape or size can be overwhelming to the individual if they are not properly prepared to receive it. The real work is not in the rearangeement of the school building and what it looks like the true work is one of immersing the students,their parents and society into an enriched learning environment.One that is both challenging and rewarding.In Poland for instance the typical life of a students 12 educational years is that they attend grades 1-8 with the same kids in their class. And then if they graduate middle school and choose to go to high school as opposed to attending a trade school they then finish the next four years with the another 20 some group of classmates.So even though a student may attend a school with a population of thousands of students the learning environment is always kept small and manageable. This also saves a great deal on resource management. To be able to provide economies of scale for the infrastucture rather than recreating hundreds of smaller and seperate buildings.
The intent to create a level of comfort and familiarity for the student is thereby achieved and this provides stability to the childs learning environment and also better equips the teachers ability to understand each student and their family situation better.It is expected in Poland that the parent will work with the students to comprehend and complete their homework. This is something that is gradually taught to both the student and their parents from grade one right on thru graduation. So, you see there is also cutural and societal change that needs to take place.There are very few parents equipped to provide this kind of substantive support to their childrens education. But it is imperative that their be interim replacements for after school to fill in the gaps so that each student can not only achieve parity on the global scale but excell. So, you can now understand that although we can make some serious inroads into a graduated change in the success of our educational capacities, it is important to understand though that the really stellar successes will have to be expected in 12 years when the first students of these enriched learning environments will have completed their primary K-12 education, free from the virus we presently call public education. It will take that long to really let the disease run it's course. For although there is a great many people that truly wish the best for the students and all is not a devastating failure, the foundation upon which the educational endeavors were built are gravely flawed.
Moving on and to the core intent, any student attempting public life must have the basic fundamental self actualization tools in place. The greatest tool is a very natural one and that is the question why? Most of the additonal tools that complement "why" are various shaped sharpening stones that keep a keen edge placed on the "why" tool. This is the personal motivation to understand and succeed to the next step or level of learning. There is no other way around it. So,this Gestalt of interaction with the world is the foundational element neccesary for the students success in life. This begins with their own self esteem and continuing with their public educational experiences and beyond. It is important to note we are creating the capacity for the student to carry on this awareness of "why" beyond the "school" environment. When they "graduate" to each next level they will also have added a number of tools that they have apprenticed with and they are the other w's, the who , what, where, why,and when.
If properly accomplished(Pedagogy)the groundwork for forming the students educational experience will provide the student with the fundamental understandings that they are in school to experience life and to build upon their insatiable need to comprehend the world they live in physically and imaginatively, thereby all the while nurturing the "why" tool. This is kernal to success in education. It needs to exist solely for the support of the individuals "why", not their ego and not to find a hole to place a newly minted peg into (career focus).People need to see schools for what they generally are in the public educational system, a means of perpetuating the machine(one that thanks to globalization is evaporating before our eyes)and fullfilling the educational/prison complex's self perpetuation. So, without accomplishing the basic foundational precept of maintaining and encouraging the "why" any rearangment of the present educational system can only be seen as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
The new Think Green STEM Centers are designed so that they will create flow in the educational systems and are a point of focus by which each step of the K-12 experience can be channeled into a rich and deep river of opportunity for all involved, the student, their family and society in general.
While I appreciate the opportunity to express my opinions and thoughts here, it would give me greater pleasure to apply them directly in the lives of our target audience. I would also like to see the floodgates open and then to hear from all the people that have their own take on what the answers may look like.
I believe that a smaller more personal learning experience can produce better results (at lease for some students). Some children will excel in almost any school environment, but for kids who are struggling, the consistency and personal approach of a smaller school can work wonders. I have experienced this directly with one of my kid’s educational experiences.
However, I have a few warnings and draw backs to point out in regards to what this article proposes.
First: In a smaller environment it is absolutely critical to get the Right MIX. If a child ends up with a teacher who is out of sync with them or their learning style, or a classmate that causes them difficulties, it can be disastrous. This is particularly true if they are stuck in that situation year after year.
Second: Many "high-school" children are not ready to declare they want to be engineers or doctors. I'm not sure it is advisable to tie them to a certain classification too early.
Third: JimB makes a good point, the work place or University is unlikely to duplicate a "small, personal" environment. Some effort to prepare them for a bigger world must take place.
On a related Note: I have been told there is a current trend in education to mix students with rather different apptitudes in one class. It was explained to me that putting slower learners in with kids who excel will "motivate" and "challenge" the less motivated student. I beg to differ. I believe that this actually frustrates the slower learner and increases the likelihood that they will give up. I don't see where this is a good practice for the fast learner or the teacher either. It ends up holding back the faster learner, and likely will leave the slower learner completely at a loss. I thought we were trying to make sure "No child is left behind"!
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