Transforming The High School Experience: The Practitioner's Guide to Small Learning Communities

As the demand for high school reform strengthens across America, educators are being compelled to find credible ways to improve student performance on high-stakes tests and to close the achievement gap between ethnic and socio-economic groups. Experience demonstrates that each step taken forward on the path towards high school reform, by the very nature of doing something different, creates additional opportunities and challenges in response to that action. It is this underlying butterfly effect that allows us to see that an alteration in one small thing can impact the much larger system in which it exists. In order to make a real difference in the way schools conduct business, stakeholders (administrators, teachers, students and parents) must arrive at solutions by challenging their own preconceived ideas surrounding the high school experience. Because the culture of each school is unique, no program can ethically prescribe a one-size-fits-all solution that promises to deliver comparable outcomes. The most worthwhile assistance schools can receive is to be given a framework that puts the change process in context and properly structures important questions so that stakeholders themselves can arrive at the answers that work best for their unique circumstances.

Within this guidebook, authors Blanchard and Harms present the Tripartite Transformation Model, a compilation of the nine major phases that educators must pass through in order to attain responsible, systemic reform in large high schools. Using this transformation model as a guide, the authors reveal why a certain degree of structure is needed to channel the chaos of change and accomplish the goals and objectives associated with effective small learning communities. Each chapter in the guidebook provides thought-provoking questions and worksheets to help schools navigate through the various phases of change and develop sustainable methods for achieving success at the district, site and cl

Dr. Brooke Harms brings a wealth of practical knowledge about restructuring schools from her 30 years of experience in education. Brooke began her career in as a high school English teacher, and soon became an administrator at the high school, district and county levels concentrating on secondary education. Dr. Harms has served as Director of the California Professional Development Consortium, providing staff development programs to schools in Southern California. Most recently, Brooke has served as the Project Director for several federal grants, conducting critical work with 16 high schools in San Bernardino County to change large comprehensive schools into smaller learning communities. She has worked at the state level, serving as Chairperson for the California Department of Education School-To-Career Student Assessment Committee for four years, and assisted in developing the California Department of Education Professional Development Framework and Standards. Brooke holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership & Management from the University of La Verne, a Master's Degree in Speech/Business Communications, and a Bachelor's Degree in Speech and English. She is currently consulting with various districts and county offices within California to continue the work of redesigning high schools in order to better prepare students for life and work in the 21st Century.