Focus on High Schools
Spring 2005 Vol. 12 No. 3
Differences on small school vision emerge
by Sheila Simmons
Is "small" a size or an intimate cultural environment?
Are strong academics the key to success for small schools, or is it equally important to build personal ownership, group accountability, and community engagement?
Whatever the answers to these questions, the School District's multimillion dollar "Small Schools Transition Project" is now underway, promising to create at least 28 new high school options for Philadelphia students by 2008.
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Smaller school size called a launch pad for high school reform efforts
by Clarisse Mesa
"Small schools are the launch pad, not the rocket ship," cautioned Michael Klonsky, director of the Small Schools Workshop in Chicago, during a talk sponsored by the Philadelphia Education Fund on February 1. The Education Fund brought Klonsky to Philadelphia to support local efforts to create more small high schools in the School District.
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Comprehensive reform programs are works in progress
by Ros Purnell and Liza Herzog
Bill Gates, Microsoft founder, when addressing the nation's governors in February, called American high schools "obsolete" and "designed 50 years ago to meet the needs of another age."
Gates and other reformers are pushing for a complete overhaul of the present structure and the creation of an equitable system that results in all students being prepared for post-secondary success - whether in college or the workplace.
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Table of Contents
Theme articles
- Differences on small school vision emerge by Sheila Simmons
- Olney High School: how students see it Text by Ron Whitehorne and Photos by Harvey Finkle
- Philadelphia's high schools: how they are doing
- Youth leaders carry on campaign for small schools by Gretchen E. L. Suess and Kristine S. Lewis
- Smaller school size called a launch pad for high school reform efforts by Clarisse Mesa
- Taking stock after two years of 'Secondary Education Movement' by Paul Socolar
- Implementing new curriculum, high school teachers take varied paths by Eva Travers
- Views on high school curriculum vary with experience
- College awareness, better preparation are goals of GEAR UP program by Jason Smith
- High goals for class of 2005, GEAR UP's first graduates by Tracey Hartmann
- Comprehensive reform programs are works in progress by Ros Purnell and Liza Herzog
- High schools looking at alternatives to more police by Sheila Simmons
- As first privately managed high school, King has faced controversy by Deborah A. Russell-Brown
- Opinion: Youth organizing is vital for real high school change by Quintel Byrd and Eric Braxton
- School District continues expansion of small high school options
Other news & features
- Bush wants to expand NCLB in high schools by Ron Whitehorne
- New core curriculum is a real nuisance for teachers, students by Elizabeth Curry
- Planning for new schools
Cartoon
- Spring 2005 cartoon by Eric Joselyn
In our opinion
- Students show the way
From our readers
- Teacher's remark was unacceptable
- Better approach to school violence
- Why there's so little progress with special education students
Eye on special education
- State lowers the bar for special ed teachers by Baruch Kintisch
Activism around the city
- Indian teacher recruits win union rights here
- Campaigns seek to stop proposed budget cuts
- Asking whether schools have all the basics
News in brief
- Teacher quality study finds signs of progress
- Pennsylvania still getting low grades on funding
- Notebook editor to receive Gimper Award at gala
En español
- Líderes jóvenes siguen la campaña a favor de las escuelas pequeñas por Gretchen E. L. Suess y Kristine S. Lewis
- Reforma de escuelas superiores llama 'plataforma de despegue' a las escuelas más pequeñas por Clarisse Mesa
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