Chicago educators are countering anonymity with smaller schools that have been restructured and "recultured" into small learning communities stressing personalized instruction, high student visibility, and teacher collaboration. Since the mid-1990s, 130 small-design elementary and secondary schools serving 42,000 students have been…

Explores the house-concept design in educational facilities and explains how this concept addresses the relationship between the following dimensions of the school: learning processes; organizational structures; and learning environments. Also discusses how this concept can be incorporated into renovation projects and its future possibilities. (GR)

This manifesto outlines the purposes, instructional program, facilities, allocation of resources, financing, and implementation of a private elementary and middle school that is based on the concepts of professional accountability and individualized learning. The school would be organized around learning families that cross grade and ability…

Topeka West High School has approximately 1,500 students divided into four houses of 375 students. An effort is made to randomly distribute the incoming sophomores equally among the four houses. Each house has an assistant principal, a counselor, and a staff of 8 to 10 teachers representing the instructional areas of English, social studies, and…

This paper analyzes the study of the impact of recent changes in the curriculum and enrollment policies on the academic achievement of ninth graders at Hartford Public High School (HPHS), Connecticut. The most notable recent changes include establishment of the Academy for Excellence and Career Exploration for ninth graders and the…

Profiles Bayonne (New Jersey) High School, an urban four-year, comprehensive high school with 2,100 students from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Because bilingual programs are unfeasible, staff have developed specially designed courses (in Ebony culture, American social issues, and transitional English) to ease…

This case study reflects block scheduling's effects on advanced-placement mathematics courses of one veteran teacher tracking personal progress since 1989. Block scheduling began in 1994, creating problems for the teacher, whose resistance to the reform was based on declining advanced-placement scores. Teacher attitude and insufficient…

Through the house system, a New York City high school's 2,500 students benefit from a small school environment while accessing large-school resources. Each house participating in a privately funded after-school program features various activities that supplement daily instruction while building on their students' interests. (MLH)

This bulletin contains synopses of five works that consider the issue of school size from a variety of viewpoints. (1) "School Size' School Climate, and School Performance" (Kathleen Cotton) reviews the research evidence on school size, finding strong support for the advantages of small schools. (2) "Is Bigger Really Better?" (Kenneth Stevenson…

This report concludes that the house plan should be the centerpiece of a systematic restructuring of New York City neighborhood high schools to reduce the dropout rate and improve academic achievement. The house plan is based on the subdivision of one or more grades into smaller schools within schools. Long-term monitoring of New York City dropout…

As part of a multi-phase, multi-method study of the House Plan concept at Cypress College in California, this report explores faculty attitudes toward various aspects of the college as well as the House Plan itself. A random sample of 100 faculty members, stratified along division lines, were sent a brief, open-ended questionnaire soliciting…

Using data collected through interviews with headmasters, other administrative personnel, teachers, and pupils from a random stratified sample of 33 comprehensive schools in England and Wales, a study was conducted of the use of the house system, with schools classified into four types: using the house system extensively, 11; using it moderately,…

During April and May 1977, individual interviews of all division chairpersons and House advisors and of selected administrators and House clerks (22 total) were conducted as part of a multi-phase, multi-method study of the House Plan at Cypress College. The interviews were intended to gather suggestions for reorganizing the administrative…

In an effort to find out what makes small schools work, teachers, administrators, and students from seven small high schools in seven states were interviewed. While each school was different, themes that surfaced included the presence of varied forms of small learning communities, personalized learning plans, learner-centered assessment and…

The effects of a "school within a school" on the academic achievement of high school sophomores were studied in a Chicago (Illinois) inner-city public school, the Tilden Community Academy and its Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) program (school within the school). Of the 228 tenth graders, 49 were enrolled in the JROTC…