Small Schools for Football Players Too

Today I got an idea: What if states who cared so much about football (aghem, Texas) came up with a way to have small schools?

In a Kansas.com article it states, "Both reports [from National Association of Secondary School Principals] pointed to research that says the optimal size for a high school is between 600 and 900 students -- big enough to offer advanced and specialty courses, but small enough for the staff to know students by name."

I know it would be very expensive to demolish the huge high schools that spread over many square miles. I know it would cost more money to build and staff those smaller schools. But wouldn't the costs outweigh the benefits?

"Though it's more expensive to build and run smaller high schools -- each with its own principal, football team, computer lab and marching band -- Andover superintendent Mark Evans said residents tell him they think it's worth the expense."

Students would be able to choose, based on their interests or locality, which school they wanted to go to. They would feel more a part of a community member, rather than a number. Students would get the attention they require instead of falling through the cracks. Teachers would have time to be more authentic and develop relationships with a smaller number of
students, instead of just a figurehead to many. Relationships between parents and staff would then become more important as a more democratic process of schooling was established. While the parents felt more inclined to become more involved in the schooling of their student, community members could feel more welcome to volunteer in smaller settings that were less
intimidating.

If Kansas can do it, why can't Texas?

I recently engaged in an email exchange about schools in Austin, Texas with an aquaintance. She wrote, "They are indeed undertaking some redesign and are doing it in a way that holds a lot of promise of lessons for big districts -- getting the district systems in place, etc. This is Texas, however, land of big schools with schedules designed around football (which is offered during the day and gets credits toward graduation!)."

So I did some research and found out that AISD is doing its homework on redesigning its schools. They have articles referenced from such groups as the Gates Foundation, and people like Darling-Hammond, and Ancess.

Education Trust from DC is also listed as a reference for high school reform, recently wrote a report on how there is a huge spending gap in teacher's salaries. I will blog on this in another post.

So there may be promise looming out there for football players, as well as the other very important students who attend those large schools in Texas. As for AISD, the superintendent who started all this change is leaving in 2009. What will happen then?

High School Expectations

From PEN Newsblast on April 19.

CLOSING THE "EXPECTATIONS GAP"

One-quarter of all states have implemented
significantly tougher graduation requirements,
and virtually every state has taken steps to
ratchet up expectations for high school students,
according to a national survey of high school
reform efforts conducted by Washington, D.C.
-based Achieve, Inc. The survey updates the
efforts of all 50 states to align their high
school standards, graduation requirements,
assessments, and accountability systems with
the demands of college and work, and finds that
at least 48 states are now actively engaged in
reform efforts of some kind. There is more
momentum in the states now than at any time
since education reform became a national priority
with the release of A Nation at Risk in 1983.
Some of the most dramatic progress has been made
in the area of graduation requirements, where 13
states, up from just two in 2004, now require high
school students to complete a college- and work-ready
curriculum in order to earn a diploma.  According
to the survey report, "Closing the Expectations Gap
2007", 16 additional states are taking steps to
implement similar graduation requirements, which
include four years of challenging mathematics at
least through Algebra II and four years of rigorous
English. States also have achieved significant
progress in making academic standards rigorous
enough in English and mathematics so that they
accurately reflect real world expectations, but
have moved more slowly in developing complementary
assessment systems and holding high schools
accountable for the college-readiness of their
students. "While the federal government has been
driving K-8 education policy, states are leading
the way on high school reform," said Michael Cohen,
president of Achieve. "This is a heavy lift for
governors, but their leadership is urgently needed
as states take the steps to prepare young people
to succeed in the global economy where good jobs
increasingly require some postsecondary education.
College-ready skills are a must for every high school
graduate today."
http://www.achieve.org/node/844