Too many students still experience the factory model evident in most U.S. high schools, which were designed to put young people on a conveyor belt and move them from one overloaded teacher to the next, in 45-minute increments, to be stamped with separate, disconnected lessons 7 or 8 times a day. While these factory-model designs may have worked…

School reformers hope that converting comprehensive high schools into collections of small schools will produce results similar to those realized in freestanding small schools. Three themes--personalization, professional community, and shared decision making--exemplify the early successes in conversions. But the challenge of sustaining these gains…

Educational reformers often partner with others to make change happen in their schools. But few reformers look to students as agents of change. In this article, the authors discuss how students are an often under-utilized, and yet crucial, educational partner. They share their student voice work in the San Diego Unified School District's high…

With the American School Counselor Association's (ASCA) adoption of the National Model, school counselors are called to align their work with educational reform initiatives and provide leadership in public schools (Dollarhide, 2003). School counseling literature supporting leadership for social justice is frequently reiterated (Hatch & Bowers,…

The recent school reform movement of the 1980s and 1990s has been characterized by school-based management (SBM) initiatives and participatory decision-making arrangements. While much has been written about the need for teacher, parental and community involvement in school decision-making, the role of the student in these experiments has remained…

This report looks at the conversion work in three large comprehensive high schools in Washington State with a focus on what was learned in the early years. Each school takes a unique approach but common themes emerge, including the importance of strong principal leadership, the use of data, a transparent decision-making process, and a commitment…

In cities across the country, educators and civic leaders are taking on the challenge of transforming large, failing high schools where graduation rates have remained below 50 percent for many years. They are replacing these high schools with small schools that will prepare students in underserved urban communities to meet the high standards…