Small schools
have great variety. We learned that we don't need standardized schools –- that
kills the soul! In Chicago we saw fabulous small schools that were Afro-centric,
schools that focused on phonics, fabulous small schools about whole language, small schools that are using the city as a
place to investigate. Why? Because they were small, they were focused and they
beat the odds on academic outcomes.
Small schools are the single most powerful intervention that we can imagine for
young people. And the evidence at high schools was even more powerful, as
you'll see in our report.
have great variety. We learned that we don't need standardized schools –- that
kills the soul! In Chicago we saw fabulous small schools that were Afro-centric,
schools that focused on phonics, fabulous small schools about whole language, small schools that are using the city as a
place to investigate. Why? Because they were small, they were focused and they
beat the odds on academic outcomes.
Small schools are the single most powerful intervention that we can imagine for
young people. And the evidence at high schools was even more powerful, as
you'll see in our report.
Learning
Lessons
Lessons
There are now
data from 25 years on big mistakes we make when we're reforming high schools.
The data reveal these myths:
data from 25 years on big mistakes we make when we're reforming high schools.
The data reveal these myths:
- Myth One: You can reform schools
incrementally. Forget it. You never get to where you thought you were
going. Despite your anxiety, work the hard issues up front; you cannot
work your way into them. You cut too many deals if you ease off and make
everybody happy in the beginning. And I see a lot of people doing that.
I've seen too many schools start out saying we're going to break big
schools into small schools. They keep almost everything the same. And
within three years, they end up with a couple of interdisciplinary
classes. The bottom of the school –- where failure is more evident –- is
never touched. - Myth Two: You can keep the same
infrastructure. We're still going to have the principal, the 16 vice
principals, all those deans for discipline, the boys' deans and the girls'
deans. And department heads and counselors that are organized by an
alphabet, and then classroom teachers, who are doing the real work. And
what we're going to do now, maybe, is take the department heads and make
them the heads of the small schools. Forget it. This is a time for serious
conversation. Where I've seen it done well, like in New York City, labor
unions have been fabulously supportive. Yet, I keep hearing from
management how labor won't go for it, so they're not willing to push the
limits. You can't keep the same infrastructure. - Myth Three: You need a separate ninth grade.
One lesson is don't do a ninth grade school - a kind of vertical, horizontal
thing. You just create another threshold, and then the students drop out
after ninth grade. If you're going to build a community, it's nine-12. And
you know what, the seniors do not molest the ninth graders. They help
them! - Myth Four: Veteran teachers are cynical.
"Old" teachers can't and won't do what's necessary, and their
experience equals burnout. We have seen the limit of treating experienced
teachers like they are dead wood. A bunch of schools in New York decided
to hire young, excited, amazing young people from Brown and Wesleyan. And
they're all really, really smart. But it would have been nice to have some
teachers who know something. - Myth Five: Standards and standardization
are the same. Standards are not the same as standardization. Small
schools, by their nature, are very interested in being held accountable –-
which is one of the remarkable things about small schools. The parking
lots aren't empty at 2:00 p.m. Teachers hold each other accountable; they
hold the students accountable; parents hold the teachers accountable; and
everybody holds the parents accountable. Kids hold themselves accountable.
Standards are not the same as being the same. - Myth Six: Professional development has to happen from the outside.
Teachers have an incredible amount of knowledge, if given the space to say
what 20 years inside dysfunctional institutions has done to them. A
relation between inside and outside expertise is fragile –- and powerful. - Myth Seven: Tokenism will solve the problem. Two more
black faces in an AP class just doesn't do it for me. You can't just play
with the top and color-coat. You've got to take on the whole thing.
Whole-school reform is the point. - Myth Eight: One of my worst nightmares is
when people turn small schools into tracks. There was a school somewhere
in America, where administrators decided that they'd have five small
schools inside one previous big-school building. So one school was going
to be the Special Ed school; one was going to be the Chapter One school;
one was going to be the pregnant and parenting school; and one was going
to be the language school, for the Latino kids. And then, one school was
going to be the humanities school, to attract the middle-class white kids
back to the school. That's not what anybody ever meant by small schools.
That is a fundamental distortion. Small schools are heterogeneous, and
commit to figuring out how to bring the genius out in everyone. - Myth Nine: The illusion that accountability
means rules and surveillance of teachers and students. That is not
accountability, that is oppression. Accountability comes from relationships
and responsibility. That's what small schools produce. You can't hide.
It's a group of committed folks.
Accountability
requires autonomy. A big mistake is not giving small schools the autonomy that
they need to do the work that they need to do. Small school teachers, and
parents, and community members are willing to be held accountable. But the only
way they can be held accountable is if you give them the autonomy to develop
the curriculum, to organize their time, to figure out their assessment system
and the ways that they would measure student progress. We could always close
down small schools if they don't work. However, we don't close down big high
schools when they don't work. Close small schools down if they don't work, but
first, give them time. Let them grow. Don't make autonomy a gift that some
schools can earn. That's a setup. Make autonomy a beginning condition. Then put
people under the light of surveillance if they screw it up. What we do now is
put everybody under the light of surveillance, and it chokes them.
requires autonomy. A big mistake is not giving small schools the autonomy that
they need to do the work that they need to do. Small school teachers, and
parents, and community members are willing to be held accountable. But the only
way they can be held accountable is if you give them the autonomy to develop
the curriculum, to organize their time, to figure out their assessment system
and the ways that they would measure student progress. We could always close
down small schools if they don't work. However, we don't close down big high
schools when they don't work. Close small schools down if they don't work, but
first, give them time. Let them grow. Don't make autonomy a gift that some
schools can earn. That's a setup. Make autonomy a beginning condition. Then put
people under the light of surveillance if they screw it up. What we do now is
put everybody under the light of surveillance, and it chokes them.
What's
Needed Now?
Needed Now?
First, I'm very
taken by this "metropolitanization" analysis. It's a good idea, and
very useful to document the space of injustice between what's happening in
urban areas and what's happening just on the other side of the border. In
education, we could easily do that. We could track who's in Special Ed; who's
getting college-eligible courses;
who's in AP classes; what are the post-graduate outcomes; how much teachers get
paid; what are the drop-out rates across our cities; and where are the
certified teachers. And we could document pretty easily the redlining of public
education.
taken by this "metropolitanization" analysis. It's a good idea, and
very useful to document the space of injustice between what's happening in
urban areas and what's happening just on the other side of the border. In
education, we could easily do that. We could track who's in Special Ed; who's
getting college-eligible courses;
who's in AP classes; what are the post-graduate outcomes; how much teachers get
paid; what are the drop-out rates across our cities; and where are the
certified teachers. And we could document pretty easily the redlining of public
education.
Second, we need a
theory of change. I don't think it's hard to imagine where we need to go.
That's not the mystery. How to get there is not so clear; and how to get there
systemically is less clear. I'm tired of hearing small schools is not a
systemic strategy. It could be a systemic strategy if districts figured out how
to learn from small schools rather than crush them. So we need a joint strategy
of internal-to-districts work, and external advocacy. There are teachers who
are quitting because they won't teach English only. There are teachers who are refusing to
place kids in a bottom track. There are parents who are creating freedom
schools in the South, and some of that is getting called home schooling. And
not all of those people are our enemies. They are asking for inside help and
external push. We need the combination of pilots and protests. We need the
melding of internal reform and sit-ins. We need to be working both sides. This
is what I mean by the politics of urgency.
theory of change. I don't think it's hard to imagine where we need to go.
That's not the mystery. How to get there is not so clear; and how to get there
systemically is less clear. I'm tired of hearing small schools is not a
systemic strategy. It could be a systemic strategy if districts figured out how
to learn from small schools rather than crush them. So we need a joint strategy
of internal-to-districts work, and external advocacy. There are teachers who
are quitting because they won't teach English only. There are teachers who are refusing to
place kids in a bottom track. There are parents who are creating freedom
schools in the South, and some of that is getting called home schooling. And
not all of those people are our enemies. They are asking for inside help and
external push. We need the combination of pilots and protests. We need the
melding of internal reform and sit-ins. We need to be working both sides. This
is what I mean by the politics of urgency.
Third, we need to
offer support for teachers and parents and places not yet engaged in reform.
Too many of our friends are teaching and working and committed to schools that
haven't yet done the work. What we can't do is only go to the places where
there's sufficient energy for change or we will lose some of our most dedicated
buddies and friends. I know many of us have committed to staying in places that
are not "there" yet, and you're doing God's work. Thank you all.
offer support for teachers and parents and places not yet engaged in reform.
Too many of our friends are teaching and working and committed to schools that
haven't yet done the work. What we can't do is only go to the places where
there's sufficient energy for change or we will lose some of our most dedicated
buddies and friends. I know many of us have committed to staying in places that
are not "there" yet, and you're doing God's work. Thank you all.
Jeff C. Palmer is a teacher, success coach, trainer,
Certified Master of Web Copywriting and founder of https://Ebookschoice.com.
Jeff is a prolific writer, Senior Research Associate and Infopreneur having
written many eBooks, articles and special reports.
Certified Master of Web Copywriting and founder of https://Ebookschoice.com.
Jeff is a prolific writer, Senior Research Associate and Infopreneur having
written many eBooks, articles and special reports.
