Mel Gibson And Small Schools

The world seems full of connections and coincidences that only occasionally come to light.  For example, who knew until a few days ago that Mel Gibson, famous among other things for The Passion of the Christ (and a recent anti-semitic DUI arrest), was also preparing to do a TV miniseries about the Holocaust?  (Not surprisingly, the project has been shelved.)

Today's education coincidence is the release of a report on small high schools (which suggests that they're doing well at lots of things but not hitting the ball out of the park on test scores) combined with the arrival of the Ren10 newsletter (Download PDF) in which -- as usual -- claims all sorts of great things happening on the small schools front (including -- you guessed it -- big test score improvements).

First off, anyone who touts those fishy ISAT 2006 scores (or the PSAEs that are on their way) too heavily is probably going to regret it. Saying Dodge scored 36.5 percentage points higher than last year is not credible.  Second, how funny that we get two documents in one day -- one saying that small schools aren't doing so well on tests, the other saying they're doing great. Third -- the Ren10 report also comes out on a day when CPS blocks a charter school from opening as planned (see morning news).

Comments

[SmashedFace]

Since there is no link to go to the story below, I want to talk about the Consortium report. Hope that's OK...
What gets missed in all the small schools stuff is that you have to change practice before you change structure. We hear all this stuff about small schools solving problems, but they don't in and of themselves.
If, for example, you have a teacher who stands in front of the class and lectures in a large school and move that same teacher to a small school, that teacher's new students will likely have the same losses/gains as the other students. Why? Moving that teacher from a large school will change nothing.
Similarly, if a principal is a control freak who distrusts her teachers, the only change will be that in a small school there are fewer people to terrorize. Displaced anger will likely still take root.
However, with the right people, a small school has great possibilities. Think how much easier it would be to have interdisciplinary projects/lessons that help students understand connections. Think how those in small schools could make everyone feel responsible to one another, to create that sense of community where people build one another up, where they honor excellence and hard work. Wow, that could possibly affect real change.

Of course the best news in the report is that it appears that drop out rates are lower in small schools. Hell, I care much less about the test results than the drop out rate. That is important news. If more students are finishing high school, those students have options the drop outs don't have. That is exciting.
So, as we plan these new schools, let's look at what works well and what doesn't. Let's not think that the structure will bring about vast change unless other things are putin place first.

[Disillusioned]

I've sensed that there may be a bias toward Klonsky's "small schools is the answer and privatization and charters are evil" approach in here and perhaps I'll interpret the absence of a comment section in the previous story as evidence to the fact. As Smashed Face stated: "We hear all this stuff about small schools solving problems, but they don't in and of themselves." True, and the same happens with privatization and charters, in and of themselves they aren't the answer, but they do provide the proper conditions. I have been amused at Klonsky's responses so far, to paraphrase them: "yes, but.." and the "what they should've done..." sounds remarkably similiar to what happens when a report doesn't giving a glowing review to charters or privatization and those proponents scramble to respond. I do get tired of political agendas and people who pooh pooh new concepts in education that they don't agree with philosophically. I still think small schools have some potential based on anecdotal evidence, can Klonsky accept the fact that privatization and charters have the potential to have a positive impact?

Class size is a big factor for all schools.
What are the class sizes in the small schools? They may be smaller schools, but if class size is the same as the general high school,as well as counselor to student ratio, this explains why some of the ideas in post 5:55 may not be happening.