High dropout rates, sinking test scores, low attendance: who gets it right in dealing with these urban problems? It turns out to be those communities that have found a way to have small schools.

Chicago and New York have successfully divided large high schools into small units serving 400 or fewer. Sacramento has successfully converted ALL its high schools to small schools. The process is not quick or easy, and it doesn't satisfy all students. Students may miss the wide range of choices available in a larger school. Teachers may find it tough to rework the curriculum. Often scheduling glitches abound. But it does dramatically reduce the worst of the problems.

A study at the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota used as a focus one high school in New York. El Puente Academy in Brooklyn pulls its students from the poorest neighborhoods. Not many of them were even completing school. After the change, attendance showed dramatic improvement: almost all of the kids were completing high school, and even registering top scores on the State Regents Exam.

Money has pushed the Small Schools movement all across the country. The federal government has already invested $142 million in grant money to school districts. See the report "Small, Safe, and Successful High Schools".

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested $745 million. Their website has some significant facts: dropout rate in our country is overall 30%, higher among Hispanics and African-Americans; the curriculum in math and science is way behind that of other industrialized nations; many high-school seniors cannot handle fractions, percents, and averages or identify the main ideas in something they have just read. (See http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Education/TransformingHighSchools/RelatedInfo/MakingCaseForSmallSchools.htm) These facts are consistent with StudyBuddy's experience. The Foundation is finding that schools can address the overcrowding, anonymity, and unrealistic teacher schedules it sees as the cause of these problems. Many success stories seem to validate this logic.

There's not yet a model that can make it easy for any community to try. But so far, it's a very promising alternative. For San Francisco experiments, see http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/13/WBG9C4SP7S1.DTL

We'll keep you posted: stay tuned...