Creating Small Schools: A Handbook for Raising Equity and Achievement

"A terrific manual for small schools or conversion efforts. Provides a logical road map and tools, and shows educators how to lead groups and engage the community in the rebuilding effort."
―Sue Showers, Educational Consultant

Bigger is not necessarily better.

While current research shows that comprehensive high schools remain the norm, effective small-scale high schools feature lower student-to-teacher ratios, longer instructional blocks, more parent involvement, and increased advisory and student support. The resulting instructional benefits include reduced dropout rates, increased attendance, higher student achievement, and fewer discipline problems.

Based on the authors′ work at the nationally renowned Center for Collaborative Education, Creating Small Schools presents an A–to–Z guide for developing small school communities that personalize the educational experience for all students, helping them form lasting bonds with faculty and ultimately increasing their chances of going to college.

Success for students and schools depends on small class size, unifying vision, autonomy, and accountability. This research-based guidebook offers school leaders:

• Ways to establish new schools or convert existing ones
• Step-by-step instructions for developing a small schools plan
• Lessons, case studies, practical tools, advice, and vignettes
• Guidance for forging partnerships with district administration and the community

Discover how small schools can effectively reach and motivate underserved learners, and watch as achievement levels rise for all students.

Dan French, executive director of the Center for Collaborative Education, is the former director of instruction and curriculum for the Massachusetts Department of Education and special educator. He holds an EdD from University of  Massachusetts at Amherst. He has published many articles, including the 1998 Phi Delta Kappan article, “The State′s Role in Shaping a Progressive Vision of Public Education,” and a commentary in Education Week, “Boston’s Pilot Schools:Progress and Promise in Urban School Reform” (April 19, 2006).

Mary Atkinson has over twenty-five years of experience in education as a teacher, curriculum consultant, and writer. She has worked both as an elementary Spanish bilingual teacher and a Spanish language teacher for grades K-12. She cowrote the Massachusetts World Languages Curriculum Framework and wrote the Texas Framework for Languages Other Than English. As a consultant to Center for Collaborative Education, Ms. Atkinson was lead author of several Turning Points Guides as well as the Small Schools Planning Guide. Her poetry and fiction for children has appeared in several books and magazines. Ms. Atkinson holds a MEd from Lesley University.

Leah Rugen, publications director, has worked at the Center for Collaborative Education since 1997 as writer, change coach, and program director of the national Turning Points network. Prior to working at CCE she worked for Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, and the New York City Outward Bound Center. She began her education career teaching English and writing in public school in New York. She received her MAT in English from Brown University. Her CCE publications include Turning Points guides Creating Partnerships, Bridging Worlds: Family and Community Engagement (with Jordan Naidoo, 2003) and Understanding Learning: Assessment in the Turning Points School (2005).