Publisher Description

The basic blueprint of American high schools hasn't changed in a century, and we are paying a heavy price. Anonymous, enormous, and resistant to change, huge American high schools are incapable of educating all children to high levels today, as dropout rates and remedial courses in college make increasingly clear. High Schools on a Human Scale shows the huge power of small schools, perhaps the nation's fastest- growing reform idea. Tom Toch takes us inside four very different small schools around the country-from an entrepreneur's high-tech charter school in San Diego to a school formed out the of the breakup of a huge public high school in Manhattan. All are small enough so that every student is known well by adults, and the results are remarkable. Together they show the proven virtues of small schools-safety, community, and high achievement. This book is sponsored in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's $40 million effort to support small schools nationwide.

Small Victories is Samuel Freedman's remarkable story of life on the front lines in the sort of high school that seems like a disaster with walls--old, urban, overcrowded, and overwhelmingly minority. Seaward Park High School, on Manhattan's Lower East Side, has been ranked among the worst 10 percent of high schools in the state--yet 92 percent of its graduates go on to higher education. The reason is dedicated teachers, one of whom, English instructor Jessica Siegel, is the subject of Freedman's unforgettably dramatic humanization of the education crisis. Following Siegel through the 1987-88 academic year, Freedman not only saw a master at work but learned from the inside just how a school functions against impossible odds. Small Victories alternates Jessica's experiences with those of others at Seaward Park, and as we cone to know intimately a number of the astonishing students and staff, Small Victories reveals itself as a book that has the power to change the way we see our world.

Urging new directions for American high school education, this book outlines problems with contemporary high schools and describes the experience of small high schools (those having approximately 200 students), designed in the past 15 years, that have developed excellent and diverse alternative programs within the constraints of existing district policies and funding formulas. Chapter 1 reviews educational criticism since the 1950s. Chapter 2 contrasts two high schools--one traditional, one nontraditional--in one community, focusing on the influence of school size and school culture. Chapter 3 outlines the benefits of small high schools for students and teachers. Chapter 4 discusses strategies for change at the technical, managerial, and cultural levels, noting that change at the cultural level is the most difficult to achieve and has the greatest effect. Chapter 6 describes "Mountain Open" High School, a model small high school program in Colorado. Topics include educational philosophy, individualized learning, student characteristics, teaching conditions, and curriculum. Discussion of curriculum covers the use of trips, community learning, community service, and the Walkabout--the culminating project in which students prove they can use their skills in real-world settings. Chapter 7 presents change strategies, emphasizing the need to address the problems of school size, structure, and culture. (JHZ)

An in-depth look at academically selective public high schools in America What is the best education for exceptionally able and high-achieving youngsters? Can the United States strengthen its future intellectual leadership, economic vitality, and scientific prowess without sacrificing equal opportunity? There are no easy answers but, as Chester Finn and Jessica Hockett show, for more than 100,000 students each year, the solution is to enroll in an academically selective public high school. Exam Schools is the first-ever close-up look at this small, sometimes controversial, yet crucial segment of American public education. This groundbreaking book discusses how these schools work--and their critical role in nurturing the country's brightest students. The 165 schools identified by Finn and Hockett are located in thirty states, plus the District of Columbia. While some are world renowned, such as Boston Latin and Bronx Science, others are known only in their own communities. The authors survey the schools on issues ranging from admissions and student diversity to teacher selection. They probe sources of political support, curriculum, instructional styles, educational effectiveness, and institutional autonomy. Some of their findings are surprising: Los Angeles, for example, has no "exam schools" while New York City has dozens. Asian-American students are overrepresented—but so are African-American pupils. Culminating with in-depth profiles of eleven exam schools and thoughtful reflection on policy implications, Finn and Hockett ultimately consider whether the country would be better off with more such schools. At a time of keen attention to the faltering education system, Exam Schools sheds positive light on a group of schools that could well provide a transformative roadmap for many of America's children.

When education activists in New York, Chicago, and other urban school districts in the 1980s began the small-schools movement, they envisioned a new kind of public school system that was fair and equitable and that encouraged new relationships between teachers and students. When that movement for school reform ran head-on into the neo-conservative takeover of the Department of Education and its No Child Left Behind strategy for school change, a new model of federal power bent on the erosion of public space and the privatization of public schooling emerged. Michael and Susan Klonsky, educators who were among the early leaders of the small-schools movement, tell the story of how a once-promising model of creating new small and charter schools has been used by the neocons to reproduce many of the old inequities. Small Schools is the engaging story of what happens when the small-schools movement meets the Ownership Society.