To counter low test scores, a rising dropout rate, and teacher apathy, a small group of teachers at Hollywood (California) High School developed a career academy, an interdisciplinary school-within-a-school stressing small classes and business speakers. The program recruited interested students and promoted a career theme with good employment…

Describes seven school downsizing models adopted by school districts in several states to create small schools and schools-within-schools, including inadequacy of "policy by exception." Discusses policy-related challenges of schools-within-schools and small schools. Argues that state and school district policies and structures need to support, not…

Studies show that deteriorating school facilities take their toll on students' and teachers' health and morale. Classrooms should be accessible to the outdoors; clustered around a commons; adaptable and flexible; and aesthetically pleasing. Architects say natural lighting and noise reduction are routine parts of their job. Research studies support…

Consistent with the Williams v. California suit, our focus in this article is on educational equity, particularly the interface between equity and school organization. We concentrate on two structural issues, school size and school overcrowding, and one specific school structure, schools-within-schools. We organize the article as an interpretive…

Recent national reports reinforce the growing perception that small schools are good schools. This may seem a revolution or the latest fad in schooling; however, issues of size cannot be captured in universal guidelines. This digest discusses the history of school size dilemmas to demonstrate why this is so. The earliest research literature on…

The Ninth Grade Houses Program of the New York City public high schools is described, and evaluation outcomes and recommendations are presented. The general goal was to help ninth graders adjust to high school. The purposes were to: (1) generate student engagement; (2) provide opportunity for sustained, meaningful interaction with respected…

The major problem area of humanization and involvement in the New York City high schools is the focus of this report. In this area a most promising trend is the emergence of the school-within-a-school and the small-unit school. This report surveys the various units which have been established, their roles in the high school system, and some of the…

This study was initiated because the author believed that the house system in the comprehensive schools of England has elements that could be adapted into many American schools to help personalize education for each student. The house system and its place in the comprehensive school is examined with reference to the general organization of the…

Between 1997 and 2001, an elementary school on the south side of Chicago was reorganized to improve student achievement. By 2000, students at one small school (referred to as CASE) showed achievement gains, while students at other small schools within the host site did not. Teachers at CASE could not account for its success. During 2000-2001 a…

For its sixth national conference, a national collaboration in support of school reform sharpened its focus by asking Houston Independent School District (HISD) to host the conference and serve as a "case study." HISD was an ideal subject because of a long history of addressing statewide standards-based reform and engaging in multiple…

Principal Charles E. Mingo is working to revolutionize Du Sable High School in Chicago located near the nation's largest public housing development. Mingo and his staff have reduced truancy, doubled the percentage of graduates, and started an alternative school for dropouts. (MLF)

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)

Having developed a technology-based teaching unit on weather that appeared to work well for middle school students, Nancy Butler Songer and her colleagues at the University of Michigan decided in the late 1990s to take the next logical step in their research program: They scaled up. This article discusses lessons learned by several faculty…