The idea behind restructuring our high schools into Small Learning Communities (SLC) is that such a move will improve the school climate, increase student connectedness, and improve student achievement, particularly in regards to decreasing the achievement gap seen in the performance of our poor and minority students.

In July 2007, MMSD applied for an SLC grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of this grant was to build and expand upon the restructuring efforts already undertaken at Memorial and West high schools. Unfortunately, this grant proposal failed to address the results of those earlier restructuring efforts. Had the District examined that data, they would have had to acknowledge that the redesign at Memorial and West had failed to achieve the desired goals. Painful as that might be, such an examination might have led to changes in the proposed design that would increase the probability of success for the project.

Memorial High School

• Memorial HS grant (Spring, 2000)
• Memorial HS final report (June, 2003)
• Our examination of the data from Memorial HS (August, 2007)

West High School

• West HS grant (May, 2003)
• West HS final report (March, 2007)
• Our examination of the data from West HS (August, 2007)
  • Student achievement data
  • School climate and student "connected-ness" data
    

This section will continue to be developed.  We provide some background on the changes at West as well as an overview of the literature on this trend in restructuring the American high school.

Background

• The PowerPoint presentation on SLC's that was given to West High parents in the spring of 2004.
• A brief report from the March 2004 PTSO meeting on SLC's
• West High Principal, Loren Rathert, responds to concerns we have raised.
• Ability Grouping - what does the research say about this issue? (a work in progress)
• The research and philosophy behind this new movement in American high schools.
• Questions that we wished had been answered at the March 22 meeting
  
• For a summary of the 3/22/04 meeting go to the tagparents message board
• 1 February 2005 - Although West will not be implementing the core curriculum model for 10th graders during the 2005/2006 school year, they do expect to have all 10th graders taking their core courses within their SLC's beginning in the 2006/2007 school year.
• Reform at the top, Susan Black (May 2004). American School Board Journal, - An overview of the reform movement along with some important points.  One choice quote from the article: " In 2001-02, Noguera, who is now at New York University, and a team of researchers observed, surveyed, and listened to 10th-graders enrolled in 10 Boston and Cambridge public schools. ... The students said they want teachers who hold high expectations and challenge them to "understand ideas." And they want a curriculum that focuses on important and substantive issues instead of simply low-level information. "
• A history of changes at West High School that was posted on schoolinfosystem.org

Research Literature

As MMSD embarks on a program to create small learning communities at our high schools, it is important for parents and community members to have an understanding of the research foundations and the philosophies underlying these structural changes. The brief bullet points below link to more complete information on a separate page.

• Kathleen Cotton - Prior to her death, Kathleen Cotton was one of the major figures in the small schools movement. Several important points can be drawn from her review of the literature: 1) to be effective small schools should have an upper limit of 400 students, with some arguing that students are best served in schools with enrollments closer to 200 students; 2) small schools should be focused on heterogeneous classroom grouping with a focus on a core curriculum; and 3) parent involvement is crucial to the success of small learning communitites.
• Small Schools Project
  • Gates financed initiative faces hurdles - "On average, personalization, high expectations, and time for teachers to collaborate as a professional community are strong in the small start-up high schools created under this initiative," says the report by the Washington-based American Institutes for Research and SRI International, based in Menlo Park, Calif. "So far, however, it is less clear how successful the foundation's new-small-school approach will be in terms of providing high-quality curriculum and instruction for all students."
  • Gates Foundation exec pans Seattle school district - a news report on how the Gates Foundation is cutting back on the number of schools funded as a result of disappointing results with their small schools initiative.
• Aspen Institute
• Other Links

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Links to other resources on SLC's can be found online at

• What Kids Can Do
• The School Redesign Network at Stanford University
• Creating Small, Safe Learning Communities - a collection of small school resources on the Coalition for Essential Schools (CES) web site