Schools for a New Society Communities

Boston | Hamilton/Chattanooga | Houston | Providence | Sacramento | San Diego | Worcester



Boston Public Schools and Boston Plan for Excellence, with Jobs for the Future and the Boston Private Industry Council

The Boston Public Schools together with the Boston Plan for Excellence, Jobs for the Future and the Boston Private Industry Council are implementing a system-wide high school reform effort designed to fundamentally transform the structure, instructional strategies and cultures of Boston's 12 large, comprehensive high schools. Most of the 13,000 students in these schools are not meeting competency standards in language arts and mathematics. The plan was developed in 2001 by students and teachers as well as by representatives from the district, lead partners, schools, unions and community organizations. All are working together to ensure a high-quality high school education for all students in Boston.

During planning, an analysis of student achievement data revealed that many students are entering high school unable to read well enough to comprehend high school texts. Findings from focus groups of students also revealed a profound sense of student alienation from their schools. The action plan, which is designed to dramatically increase literacy levels and student engagement, represents a significant advance in the promising standards-based reform underway in the district's elementary and middle schools. The plan for high schools includes a reorganization of the district's comprehensive secondary schools into small learning communities.

The district has reorganized the high school governing structure by creating new leadership with considerable authority at the district office to support this high school agenda. Additionally, Boston has a concentrated district-wide high school literacy effort employing the Readers Writers Workshop model and the high school instructional agenda empowers youth through authentic student learning.

Jobs for the Future provides technical support to assist in the change to small schools and Boston's Private Industry Council provides internships and career education. Finally, the high school reinvention plan includes organizers that engage parents and community members, keeping them informed about key reform issues, addressing their concerns and increasing collaboration among community organizations. Boston's Next Steps Fund helps high schools, institutions of higher education and community partners to address the problem of student alienation.

The Academy for Educational Development, New York University's Institute for Education and Social Policy, and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform provide technical support to the Boston Site.

Boston contacts: Tom Payzant, Superintendent, Boston Public Schools, 617.635.9050 and Ellen Guiney, Executive Director, Boston Plan for Excellence in Public Education, 617.227.8055

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Hamilton County Schools and the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Public Education Fund

The Hamilton County Schools and the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Public Education Fund engaged in a broad-based planning process in 2000 that resulted in a district/community-wide partnership committed to high school reform. The local partners include elected officials from the city and county, district administrators, principals, teachers, parents and students as well as leaders in community organizations, higher education and business. All played a critical role in developing Chattanooga's high school reform blueprint.

Driven by the imperative that schools must educate young people for success in the new, knowledge-based economy, the partners are working to overhaul all 16 high schools, which serve 12,300 students in Chattanooga and its surrounding county. High school principals and teachers continue to analyze achievement data, barriers to achievement and options for struggling students. While their work was complicated by the diversity of Hamilton County's secondary schools--urban, suburban and rural--their high school reform agenda reflects the need for all high schools to become true learning communities that engage both adults and young people with challenging courses.

As a result of exemplary leadership in Chattanooga, the Hamilton Board of Education instituted a single-path diploma track and agreed to revamp school system's core curricula by eliminating low-level courses in all high schools. Other key aspects of the agenda include increasing the number of low-income and minority students who take rigorous academic courses; creating small learning communities and academies; providing professional development for teachers; and expanding the use of literacy coaches. The State Department of Education has also given the district a special status, which is similar to that of charters schools, giving the district more regulatory freedom to create innovative small schools.

The Chattanooga-Hamilton contacts: Jessie Register, Superintendent, Hamilton County Department of Education, 423.209.8600 and Daniel Challener, President, Public Education Foundation, 423,668,2424.

For more information: http://www.pefchattanooga.org/www/docs/3/new_society/. On this web site, you will also find more information about the single-path diploma track.

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Houston Independent School District and Houston A+

The Houston Independent School District is working to reinvent its system of high school education. Houston ISD recognizes that no one, single program will be effective in addressing the multitude of complex reasons that nearly one in two students who start high school in the 9th grade do not graduate four years later.

Therefore, the district is using Houston Schools for a New Society (HSNS) as the vehicle to achieve its graduation goal. All district work around high school is being aligned under the HSNS umbrella, including curriculum and instruction, school structure and administration, student engagement, community collaboration and parental engagement.

HSNS began in June 2000 when the Carnegie Corporation funded a joint request from Houston ISD and Houston A+ Challenge for $250,000 to spend 15 months developing a district plan to overhaul 24 high schools (23 comprehensive plus Barbara Jordan) and remake them into small learning communities with personalized, rigorous instruction for all students.

The Carnegie Corporation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation subsequently awarded Houston ISD and Houston A+ Challenge $12 million in October 2001 to carry out that plan by December 2006. Houston A+ Challenge’s role is working with the schools and the district as they restructure to implement HSNS, to serve as fiscal agent for the grant and to raise matching funding.

Houston A+ is providing knowledge and experience in reform, providing research on models and best practices, networking the various district and school functions together and removing barriers and obstacles to grant implementation.

There are three major components of HSNS: quality teaching and learning, personalization and community engagement.

• Quality teaching and learning involves curriculum that is linked to the real world and lessons that are hands-on and project-based. High schools will have literacy coaches, aligned curriculum and professional development. The district’s curriculum and instruction and professional development departments are being aligned with this work.

• Personalization is ensuring that each student has a personal graduation plan, that at least one adult on campus follows the student closely from 9th grade through graduation and that schools are restructured into small learning communities. In addition, the district will open three, new small high schools of no more than 400 students each. The district’s student engagement and school structure initiatives are being aligned with this component.

• Community engagement means putting the “public” back in public education and getting all stakeholders in a school’s success involved in HSNS. Stakeholders include students, parents, teachers, administrators, businesses and community organizations. The district’s community collaboration efforts and parent engagement initiatives are being aligned with this component.

To assist in implementation of HSNS, Houston ISD divided its comprehensive high schools into three tiers. Tier I began work in the fall of 2002, Tier II in fall 2003 and Tier III in fall 2004. In addition, four networks formed to share best practices, undergo professional development and tackle obstacles to reform—literacy coaches, school improvement facilitators, principals and district administrators.

Houston contacts: Abe Saavadra, Acting Superintendent of Schools, Houston Independent Schools District, 713.892.6300 and Michelle Pola, Executive Director, Houston A+, 713.658.1881.

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Providence Public Schools and the Rhode Island Children's Crusade for Higher Education

Providence Public Schools and the Rhode Island Children's Crusade, together with other community and higher education partners in Providence, are transforming city high schools into learning communities where all students meet or exceed high academic standards and are prepared for success in life. The action plan focuses on improving interaction between student and teacher by creating small schools, improving instruction and supporting young people's social, emotional and character development.

Providence has restructured its four large high schools, which serve 6,000 students, into small, personalized learning communities to improve instruction and nurture youth. The district has created four-year academies with career themes and has incorporated literacy instruction into each academic discipline.

Other strategies include setting high standards for all students and employing principles of youth development in teaching, learning and school organization. To make schools more relevant, students are offered more opportunities for community service projects and apprenticeships.

Providence contacts: Melody Johnson, Superintendent, Providence Public Schools, 401.456.9211 and Mary Sylvia Harrison

For more information: http://www.providenceschools.org/

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Sacramento City Unified School District and Linking Education and Economic Development (LEED)

Together with LEED-Sacramento (Linking Education and Economic Development, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving education and training in the Sacramento area), the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD)has divided all of the large high schools into small learning communities and has opened new small high schools as of September 2003. Four additional small schools will be opened, beginning in 2005. SCUSD and LEED-Sacramento are building partnerships with community, education, and business groups to sponsor additional small schools.

SCUSD is providing greater levels of professional development to teachers to improve instruction within the classroom by creating a comprehensive professional development plan that takes into account all of the district's high school teachers. The focus of the plan is to improve instruction and optimize the impact of advisory and common planning time. The district is also creating a sophisticated, accessible online information management system so that schools and teachers across the district can learn from one another. SCUSD has implemented common planning time and advisories across the board. In addition to professional development, the district is realigning standards with curriculum and assessment. Performance measures and indicators are being developed for the new standards.

In addition to improving instruction, SCUSD is making authentic youth engagement a central component of the high school reform process by creating a new district position of Youth Engagement Coordinator to help manage these efforts. Students are being integrated into decision-making structures both at the school and district level. The district is accelerating capacity building training, in asset building and research processes, for both youth and adults. The district organized a joint youth-adult training session in which principals came together with students. Young people are also being engaged as researchers into the first-hand effects of the reform movement.

The district is making a concerted effort to help parents and the community become more aware of the reform efforts in order to help ensure sustainability. Toward this end, LEED-Sacramento has also created the positions of Communications Manager and Parent/Community Engagement Coordinator. In addition, a comprehensive communications plan was developed and implemented, which included the creation of a communication's toolkit to help schools develop relationships with parents, the community, and the media. Parent councils have been created at school sites, where parents can come together to get information, receive tools and training, and connect with other parents. A parent congress also exists to serve as a sounding board, facilitator, and convener of cross-district, cross-initiative parent issues. In addition to collaborating with parents, SCUSD has strong working relationships with business and community organizations.

Contacts: M. Magdalena Carrillo Mejia, Superintendent, SCUSD (916.643.9000) and Deanna Hanson, Chief Executive Officer LEED-Sacramento (916.858.0686)

For more information: http://www.studentsfirst.info/

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San Diego City Schools and University of California, San Diego (Center for Research on Educational Equity and Teaching Excellence)

San Diego has learned from its initial efforts at school redesign that a one-size-fits-all model does not effectively facilitate reform and has moved to a portfolio model with five distinct groups of schools. Despite this differentiated approach, San Diego City Schools (SDCS) and its partner New American Schools (NAS; a business-led, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving both student and adult learning) have overriding goals that apply to all schools. Improving the quality of instruction through ongoing professional development organized around a high-quality curriculum and enhancing the quality of the instructional leadership of principals, counselors, and site content administrators are priorities. In order to help facilitate the reform effort across the district, SDCS created the positions of High School Reform Administrator and Director of Secondary School Innovation along with a High School Reform Task Force. SDCS realizes that the key to long-term sustainability is the development of principal, teacher, and community ownership of the high school reform effort and is taking steps to achieve this goal.

In order to improve instruction, San Diego has developed standards-based units of study, benchmark assessments and end-of-course exams for the 9th and 10th grade curriculum that are based on state academic standards for science, math and English. Additionally, each high school is in the process of developing and implementing an annual "Work Plan Design for Student Results" focused on improving instruction. Department chairs are being transformed into Site Content Administrators in order to provide coaching and targeted professional development for the school's literacy, science, and math teachers. Some of the high schools are implementing Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, an in-school academic support program that prepares students for college. In order to evaluate the success of reform efforts at each school, the principal and school leadership team are required to develop and conduct an analysis of performance data to present during a meeting with key district reform leaders. In addition, high school reform strategy meetings will be held on a regular basis at the district level to review the progress of individual schools and to address existing challenges.

San Diego realizes that in order to create an environment for student success not only does instruction have to be improved, but students also have to be more engaged in the learning process. Each school is developing plans to personalize education and enhance student engagement. To further personalize the learning experience, three large high schools are being turned into 16 small schools that will open in September 2004. Also, two additional high schools and the district's alternative schools are in the planning process for implementing small school structures. A middle college program is being developed with a local community college.

SDCS and NAS are taking steps to become more proactive in building community support and ownership of the reform efforts. Each school is developing and implementing a community engagement plan. The preexisting student, parent, and teacher focus groups at each high school have been discontinued and replaced by either a Parent and Community Advisory Group or School Improvement Committee. The district is also creating communications resources for schools to use in their community outreach efforts, including a website for high school reform, information sheets to distribute to the community, and assistance in planning and conducting community meetings. The district is also expanding and enhancing relationships with business and industry within the community, particularly in the planning and implementation of small schools.

University of California, San Diego's CREATE (Center for Research on Educational Equity and Teaching Excellence) is conducting a local evaluation of this effort.

Contacts: Alan Bersin, Superintendent, San Diego City Schools (619.725.5525) and Libia Gil, Chief Academic Officer, New American Schools (703.647.1700)

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Worcester Public Schools and Clark University's Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education

To create effective public schools for all young people in Worcester, a broad-based partnership came together in 2000 to produce an ambitious high school reform plan with support from a strong community.  The partners include the Worcester Education Partnership, which was formed by the Worcester Public Schools; Clark University's Hiatt Center for Urban Education; the teachers union and other leaders in higher education, business and civic organizations.  The plan builds on the district's proven strategies and partnerships, which have boosted student achievement at the elementary and middle school level.  Reformers in Worcester acknowledge the challenges in improving the comprehensive high schools that serve over 7,500 students.  The high school reform agenda aims to increase student achievement in their city's high schools and t create new schools and cultures with more caring, educational environments.  The schools are being designed to give students a greater sense of purpose as well as greater sense of relevance to the worlds of work, community and higher education.  The plan calls for schools to develop a richer and more rigorous curriculum through partnerships with local institutions of higher education.  Teachers are also using new instructional methods designed to increase student engagement and persistence.

Central to the reform agenda in Worcester is redesigning the large comprehensive high schools as small schools that foster high levels of academic achievement, healthy youth development and good use of community resources.  District-wide, there is an increased emphasis on literacy and numeracy across the curriculum and an expansion of professional development for principals and teachers, including more time for teachers to share best practices and create inter-disciplinary plans.  Students also are given more responsibility in academic, social and service realms of school life as part of an effort to promote youth development.

Worcester contacts:  James Caradonio, Superintendent, Worcester Public Schools, 508.799.3115 and Thomas Del Prete, Director, Jacob Hiatt Center for Urban Education, Clark University, 508.793.7197