Weighing in on Small Schools/Small Learning Communities

I was reading articles about the "focus schools" being put up for auction. As if education should go to the highest bidder. I don't really get it. The data is intense and so hard to analyze because each school is unique. I worked at PI (program improvement) school last year. In fact it is/was a PI5+++ school. This year I am again at a PI school. The data is not good. BUT, that is not to say nothing good is going on in those schools. Imagine if not all your students showed up to take tests year after year and you battle that obstacle. Chances are your scores might go down once more students actually take the test. Then you have the obstacle of getting students to take the tests seriously. We test them so much can you blame them for just bubbling a pattern on their answer sheets. Okay, so say you have tackled the first two, now you are ready to get some better scores. And hopefully that is what happens. However, nothing really happens overnight. It takes time to put a plan into action and reap the benefits. So now to my topic.

I love Small Learning Communities (SLCs). They take a big school and make it manageable in a way that allows for students to be taken care of. By having students grouped together into these communities and having the same core teachers, behaviors can be managed and the child can be individually known. Unit plans can be made for that specific group of students, a counselor can focus on a set group of students and go to 4 core teachers and create a plan that best suits the students in the community. The students know their teachers and the teacher KNOW THEIR STUDENTS. Consistency lives in this place of SLCs. They work, but they take time. Hard work by teachers, administrators, staff and community is being done every day where I work. We strive to create a college going philosophy. We strive for our students to be purposeful and successful in school and beyond. It may not happen overnight, but we look for ways for the students to learn and hopefully the test scores will follow.