Small Schools: a letter to parents

An open letter to parents 
In Praise of Small Schools 

By Steve McCrea, Teacher
Dear Parent: In February 2005, Bill Gates gave a landmark speech at a conference of governors praising small schools.  I missed it, and chances are that you did, too, because the speech was overwhelmed by the media’s focus on the Michael Jackson trial and Terri Schiavo.   Here’s the essence of what Gates said: 
“Successful schools are built on principles that can be applied anywhere.  These are the new three Rs, the basic building blocks of better high schools:  The first R is Rigor – making sure all students are given a challenging curriculum that prepares them for college or work.  The second R is Relevance – making sure kids have courses and projects that clearly relate to their lives and their goals.  The third R is Relationships – making sure kids have a number of adults who know them, look out for them, and push them to achieve.” 

Small Schools 
“The three Rs are almost always easier to promote in smaller schools.  The smaller size gives teachers and staff the chance to create an environment where students achieve at a higher level and rarely fall through the cracks.  Students in smaller schools are more motivated, have higher attendance rates, feel safer, and graduate and attend college in higher numbers.” 

If I were a parent, I would look around for a small school that receives public money.   Charter schools have an agreement (a “charter”) with state government to operate as a nonprofit organization with fewer of the constraints of a public school.  There’s no union, it’s easier to hire and fire teachers, and the school can respond flexibly to new situations.  

I’ve heard scores of complaints about charter schools:
- "they don't have a football team"
- "they don't have enough students"
- "the students have to eat lunch in the classroom."
- "they don't have a media center."
- “they aren’t in a real building” (some charter schools are in shopping centers or churches)
- "the students have to take a bus to get to a playground or recess area."
”And what does Bill Gates know about education and schools?  He didn’t graduate from college.  Has he ever operated a school?”

Parents, you can find many reasons to “remain loyal” to the large school that your child currently attends.   People will warn you to avoid underfunded charter schools.  However, if you agree with Gates, then join the charter school movement.  “Vote” for a smaller school -- where everyone knows your child's name.

I know of a charter school that needs 130 students to have enough funds to hire two extra assistants and afford buses for field trips.   The school currently has just over 90 students.   Each student is “worth” about $400 a month or about $3000 a year in public money (that would otherwise go to a large public school).  With 35 more students, the charter school would receive about $100,000 for much-appreciated additional resources.  

If you want to help reshape education while getting more attention for your child, consider the size of your child’s school.  Your “vote” for a small school will use public money more effectively and send a message to state officials and the school district:  Gates is right.  We need more small schools. 

If you’re curious about how a small school operates, visit BigPicture.org and watch the videos online.  The Met, a school in Providence, Rhode Island, is where the three Rs were developed. 

What to do with large schools?  
If I were a principal at a large school, I would learn how large schools in New York, L.A. and Chicago are being divided into several smaller schools.  Why not apply that same effort to large schools here in your city?  For parents wanting to heed Mr. Gates’ advice, however, switching to a small school is quicker than waiting for the transformation of large schools.

A publicly funded charter school is an affordable way for your child to benefit from rigor, relevance and relationships.  To find a charter school in your area, go to your school district’s web site and click on “School Information.”  Then select Charters.  Good searching.    
Steve McCrea is a teacher at a charter school in Fort Lauderdale. 
Steve McCrea
Fort Lauderdale, FL  33303
954.646.8246

TLAsteve@gmail.com
www.teachersTOteachers.com
www.LookForPatterns.com 
www.FloridaTestPrep.comI am a teacher who “discovered” that working with a family therapist leads to better learning conditions in a classroom. ========  




This letter was posted in 2005.  It seems relevant 8 years later.


An open letter to parents and other potential mentors   
The New Three “R”s 
By Steve McCrea, Tutor and Mentor

I’m a tutor for middle school students, so I often get asked:  “What should my child be studying?”  “Can you recommend a good web site to help him get ahead?”  “My child has difficulty reading—can you tutor him?”  Parents could present other questions to a teacher:  “What should parents be learning?”  I would answer, “Did you catch that important speech given by Bill Gates?” 

In February 2005, Bill Gates gave a landmark speech at a conference of governors praising small schools.  I missed it, and chances are that you did, too, because the speech was overwhelmed by the media’s focus on the Michael Jackson trial and Terri Schiavo.   Here’s the essence of what Gates said:

“Successful schools are built on principles that can be applied anywhere.  These are the new three Rs, the basic building blocks of better high schools:  The first R is Rigor – making sure all students are given a challenging curriculum that prepares them for college or work.  The second R is Relevance – making sure kids have courses and projects that clearly relate to their lives and their goals.  The third R is Relationships – making sure kids have a number of adults who know them, look out for them, and push them to achieve.”

The three Rs are almost always easier to promote in smaller schools.  The smaller size gives teachers and staff the chance to create an environment where students achieve at a higher level and rarely fall through the cracks.  Students in smaller schools are more motivated, have higher attendance rates, feel safer, and graduate and attend college in higher numbers.” Bill Gates
February 26, 2005
National Education Summit on High Schools 


Contents of This Booklet 
1  The Size of the School
2  The Role of Adults
3  What is the Secret Behind the Met Center in Rhode Island?
4  Questions
5  What is Next?
                                 
1  The Size of the School 
Dear Parent: 
Let’s think of an example of a small school that receives public money... Hmm...  That middle school has 700 or 1,000 students.   Most public high schools are over 1,000 students (the big three in my city are all over 1,400 students).
Oh, charter schools -- those hybrid entities that have an agreement with the state (a “charter”) to operate as a nonprofit organization with less of the constraints of a public school (no union, so it’s easier to hire and fire teachers).  
There are scores of complaints about charters:
- "They don't have a football team"
- "They don't have enough students"
- "They have to eat lunch in the classroom."
- "They don't have a media center."
- "The principal of that charter school is from another country and he doesn't understand kids in the USA."
- "They have to take a bus to get to a playground or recess area."

- “They are underfunded because they don’t have enough students, so they don’t have enough money.”
- “They don’t have enough students so my child doesn’t have enough friends.”

- “They score lower than the public schools in the standardized tests.  I want my kid to be in the big school where the test scores are higher.”
- "They ..."  (add to the list)

Parents, you can find many reasons to stick with the large school that your child currently attends.   People will give you many reasons to avoid underfunded and mismanaged small schools.  However, if you agree with Gates, then join the charter school movement and “vote” for a smaller school -- where everyone knows your child's name.

I know of a charter school that needs 130 students to have enough funds to hire two extra assistants and afford buses for field trips.   The school has just over 90 students.   Each student is “worth” about $400 a month or $3,000 a year in public money (that would otherwise go to a large public school).  With 35 more students, that's over $100,000 that the charter school could use for "additional resources."   Would you like a school that has an expensive building and cafeteria?  Or do you want a school that has fewer than 400 students (and the principal knows every student)? 

Most parents at nearby large schools didn't hear Mr. Gates and his speech.  They currently send their kids to one of the large schools in the area with over 1000 students.  I wonder if the parents would change their minds if they knew what Bill Gates said....

If you’re looking for a way to have an impact, there’s nothing more remarkable or effective as the choice of school.  Voting has a chance for changing the outcome of an election (if you join with 10,000 or so other voters).  Writing a letter or attending a city commission meeting might make a difference, if you and another five hundred people show up.

Volunteering for a beach clean up might make you feel good, but your child could be one percent of a school.  Your child, your “vote,” could shift funding to a small school and send a message to the school district:  Gates is right.  We need small schools. 
What should happen to larger schools?  
The Gates foundation has funded the division of large schools in New York, L.A. and Chicago into several smaller schools.  Why not apply that same effort in large schools everywhere?  For parents wanting to heed Mr. Gates’ advice, however, switching to a small school is immediate.  While we petition our school boards to partition large schools, at least some students can be placed immediately in smaller learning environments.

In short, a charter school is an affordable way for your child to get rigor, relevance and relationships in a small school.   To find a charter school in your area, go to your school district’s web site and look for “Charter.”

In Broward County:   www.BrowardSchools.com and click on “School Info.”  Then select Charters. 
In Dade County, www.dadeschools.net, click on “Schools,” then “School Information” and select Charters. 
In Palm Beach County, www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us, then click on the “School Info” button on the horizontal bar, then click on “Charter Schools.”
Good searching.

2  The Role of Adults 
Mentors 
If I were a parent, I would look around for adults to volunteer to come into my child’s school.  What is Gates really saying?  “Education is everyone’s business” (even his business). 

If you want to help reshape education while getting more attention for your child, make an effort to become a mentor.  You don’t have to be a parent to provide this valuable service (to yourself as well as to the community). 
Guidelines
1.     Stay focused.   Yes, school administrators need volunteers to help with photocopying, newspaper recycling, reorganizing closets.  Ask to work as a teacher’s assistant.  Get in contact with students. 
2.     Listen. The usual use of a visitor in a school is to stand the adult at the front of the classroom and ask for a speech.  Instead, the teacher could give you a small group of students and you could spend time in a corner of the room finding out if there’s any “click” or connection.  Ask the students, “What is your passion?  What do you like to read about?”  Many kids just need a chance to talk in order to discover their interests. 
3.     Return. Often.  Frequent contact makes a difference.  It takes seven exposures for most people to learn a new concept and many kids need to see an adult several times before your “message” gets through. Promise to return, then follow through.  Be anticipated.  
4.     You don’t need a speech or special talent. Your presence is a present to students who see the same adults in the same profession (teachers).  If you aren’t a teacher, that’s good.  Remember what Gates said:  “Make sure kids have a number of adults who know them, look out for them, and push them to achieve.”

If you’re curious about how a school engages mentors, visitBigPicture.org and watch the videos online.  The Met, a Big Picture school in Providence, Rhode Island, is where the new three “R”s were developed.   The formula mentioned by Gates appeared in Dennis Littky’s book, The Big Picture:  Education Is Everyone’s Business. 

Well, I could write more, but I’ve got to go.  You see, I’m a mentor, too, and a student is waiting for me.
Steve McCrea is a tutor in Fort Lauderdale.
954.646.8246
TLASteve@gmail.com
 
Why not take a moment, right now, and visit BigPicture.org?

3  What is the Secret Behind the Met Center in Rhode Island? Hmm.  It sounds like any other school.  “High Standards” for most of us means “We use expensive textbooks and expect our students to do onerous homework.”  At the Met, the standards are for rigorous work in the student’s area of passion.

“Advisory” for most schools might mean “we have a guidance department” and “we help students find possible careers.”  In the Met, the advisory is the class and the classroom.  The advisory appears to be the heart of the program.  The advisory system links one adult to 15 students and that adult (the “advisor,” but most of us would call that adult the “teacher”) builds a three- or four-year relationship with the student.  There are other teachers, but one advisor guides the student through a mix of subjects.  The students look at issues in the advisory, focusing on quantitative reasoning (math), empirical evidence (the scientific process) and communication (language arts).

Confused?  I was when I first heard of this system.  I thought, “How can one teacher teach all subjects?”  That’s the wrong question.  We should be asking, “In my school, how can a student get a sense of direction when he or she has to deal with at least 5 different teachers each year, 20 teachers through high school?  Where is the common thread binding all of these subjects in the student?”

That’s the secret behind the Met.  One adult cares about (focuses on) one student at a time.  I know at least one school district that claims to teach “one student at a time.”  The Met Center actually practices this. 
Five pillars of Big Picture Schools 
(as interpreted by a math teacher who visited The Met in Providence, RI, part of the Big Picture schools association) 
1         Multi-year relationships -- The teacher stays with the same students for three or four years.  The teacher teaches more than one subject.  In the case of the Met, a high school in Providence, RI, the teacher stays with the students for all four years of high school. 
2         The teacher is a facilitator. Teacher =  Advisor = “how can I help you?”  The teacher coaches the student to choose activities to cover skill areas (language skills, quantitative reasoning, etc.) rather than special subjects, like trigonometry, algebra or chemistry.  One of the teacher’s prime activities is finding suitable mentors for the students. 
3        Tests are by exhibition. A “stand up” demonstration of understanding is valued above a written test.  The students take the state’s standardized tests and other written tests, but the school focuses on the exhibition, which is the product of at least nine weeks of work.
4        Learning through interests – the internships (set up with the teacher) are selected by the student.  Academic learning is filtered through the student’s interests. 
5        “I’m more than a letter in the alphabet.” Evaluations are made by narratives, not by a letter grade.  The teacher can afford time to write two pages of narrative about each student during the grading period because the teacher has only 15 to 20 students to meet with over a nine-week period.  (I observed an “advisor” who met with students throughout the class day, asking for updates on on-going projects.  This sort of focus can come from a narrow focus of one adult on a small group of students.)
4  Questions 
A COMMON OBJECTION to SMALL SCHOOLS:  “Our schools are focusing on reducing class size, not school size.  We seek to provide a student-centered environment.” 

RESPONSE:  Let us emphasize the difference between being a student in a small school and being a student in a small class in a large school.

Bill Gates hammers the point of small schools, where kids feel safer and everyone knows your name.  It doesn’t matter what size the “student-centered environment” is – when I walk out that classroom door, if I can dissolve into 800 or 1000 other bodies, then I’m not in a small school.  I don’t get the small-school benefit that Dennis Littky writes about and that Bill Gates is pursuing with his foundation. 
In short 
1)      Howard Gardner says that assessing actual understanding will cost a lot more that we currently spend on written tests.

2)      Littky says that mentors, exhibitions and learning through interests are needed to supplement the typical school textbook and testing

3)      Robert Reich does not have much complimentary to say about standardized tests (see page 17 of this booklet).

How can this “Met Center” model be applied to middle schools?  Or to traditional high schools?
>      more hands-on learning
>      more interaction with outside mentors
>      introduce grading by narrative
>      “one classroom schools” – one teacher for several subjects.  (See WARNING below.)
>      less emphasis on performance on a written test
>      expand the standardized test to allow alternative ways of “performing understanding.” 
Howard Gardner, developer of the Multiple Intelligences theory, makes it clear that there are many ways of learning, so there should be more than one way to assess a person’s mastery of a subject.  Some people are inspired speakers and actors, but have a difficult time writing.  Some people are good at building teams but do poorly when acting alone. 

In the real world, these people are called “managers” (because they know how to delegate).  They don’t have to know how to do everything well. 

However, schools test students in a way that guarantees that most people who are good in one area are going to feel terrible about themselves because they can’t perform up to a standard in another area.  In the work place, employees don’t have to perform in a well-rounded way.  That’s why there is division of labor in an organization.  
As a math teacher, I’m impressed with the Big Picture’s philosophy and how the philosophy is put into action through the five pillars.   The interview with National Public Radio (in April 2005) is particularly compelling and I recommend close listening to Dennis Littky.  You can find this interview on the NPR web site, npr.org, and enter “Dennis Littky” in the search box.  The links will take you to the April 25, 2005 interview. I used to “believe in” schools as large boxes that efficiently take in 1000 students and churn out young adults.  Now I see that I learned because I was with an adult who spoke to me and a few other people who were also interested in what I was hooked on.  As a tutor, I see students “get it” after three or four sessions because I take the time to find out what the student is interested in and we shift the tutoring sessions toward those interests.

What if schools were “places to explore my interests”?  Dennis Littky describes one path to making a classroom that facilitates discovery.  The Big Picture:  Education is Everyone’s Business.  I hope you will take time to connect with this remarkable organizationà (401) 781-1873 
Here’s a quote from Littky’s book: 
There is no “one set of knowledge.” 
In 2000, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote an article for the New York Times called “One Education Does Not Fit All.”  In it, he railed against the use of standardized tests and courses as inconsistent with the new economy.  I literally jumped out of my seat with joy when I read this part: 
Yes, people need to be able to read, write and speak clearly.  And they have to know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide.  But given the widening array of possibilities, there ‘s no reason that every child must master the sciences, algebra, geometry, biology or any of the rest of the standard high school curriculum that has barely changed in half a century. (Robert Reich)

There’s no reason to put education in standardized packages when our kids don’t come in those packages.  Who wants a standardized kid, anyway?  As a society, we embrace individualism and yet we seem to be OK with our schools becoming more and more standardized.   (Littky, Pages 34-35)   
WARNING: I have mentioned one of the key aspects of the Big Picture school to several teachers:  “The advisor teaches all of the subjects.”   I rejected this idea at first and I have grown to accept it.  The reactions of other teachers are consistent:

“How can one person teach math, history, a foreign language, chemistry, biology, physics, and English Literature?  Where is the rigor?”

“How can one teacher be good at all of those subjects?”

“I was terrible at (math, history, whatever).  I would make a terrible advisor in that system.”

Two suggestions:
a) Is it so terrible for the student to sit with an adult who has a fear of math or a history of negative results with science?  If the student lacks a knack for algebra, who better to teach flexibility and optimism than an adult who failed algebra in 9th grade? 

b) Let this idea sit with you for a while.  It might appear impossible to convince a teacher’s union to encourage members to teach a spectrum of subjects instead of “their favorite” or “their special gift.”  For some students, an English teacher who hates math might be the perfect adult to guide the student toward understanding quantitative reasoning.  A science teacher who can barely write an essay might be the best writing coach for some students.  Students needing additional rigor can be assigned to other teachers/advisors for specific needs.  In short, The Big Picture method has pushed me to look at alternatives to “how I was taught.”  
See Daniel Pink’s discussion of changes in education in his book, Free Agent Nation, chapter 15: 
Whenever I walk into a public school, I'm nearly toppled by a wave of nostalgia. Most schools I've visited in the 21st century look and feel exactly like the public schools I attended in the 1970s. The classrooms are the same size.  The desks stand in those same rows.  Bulletin boards preview the next national holiday.  The hallways even smell the same.  Sure, some classrooms might have a computer or two.  But in most respects, the schools American children attend today seem indistinguishable from the ones their parents and grandparents attended. 

At first, such déjà vu warmed my soul.  But then I thought about it.  How many other places look and feel exactly as they did 20, 30, or 40 years ago? Banks don't.  Hospitals don't.  Grocery stores don't.  Maybe the sweet nostalgia I sniffed on those classroom visits was really the odor of stagnation.  Since most other institutions in American society have changed dramatically in the past half-century, the stasis of schools is strange. 
(Pink goes on to discuss the history of mass education.  He ends with the following points.) 
In the future, expect teens and their families to force an end to high school as we know it.  Look for some of these changes to replace and augment traditional high schools with free-agent-style learning -- and to unschool the American teenager:

* A renaissance of apprenticeships.  For centuries, young people learned a craft or profession under the guidance of an experienced master.  This method will revive and expand to include skills like computer programming and graphic design. Imagine a 14-year-old taking two or three academic courses each week, and spending the rest of her time apprenticing as a commercial artist.  Traditional high schools tend to separate learning and doing.  Free agency makes them indistinguishable. 

* A flowering of teenage entrepreneurship.  Young people may become free agents even before they get their driver's licenses -- and teen entrepreneurs will become more common.  Indeed, most teens have the two crucial traits of a successful entrepreneur: a fresh way of looking at the world and a passionate intensity for what they do.  In San Diego County, 8 percent of high school students already run their own online business.  That will increasingly become the norm and perhaps even become a teenage rite of passage.

* A greater diversity of academic courses.  Only 16 states offer basic economics in high school.  That's hardly a sound foundation for the free agent workplace.  Expect a surge of new kinds of "home economics" courses that teach numeracy, accounting, and basic business. 

* A boom in national service.  Some teenagers will seek greater direction than others and may want to spend a few years serving in the military or participating in a domestic service program.  Today, many young people don't consider these choices because of the pressure to go directly to college.  Getting people out of high school earlier might get them into service sooner. 

* A backlash against standards.  A high school diploma was once the gold standard of American education.  No more.  Yet politicians seem determined to make the diploma meaningful again by erecting all sorts of hurdles kids must leap to attain one -- standardized subjects each student must study, standardized tests each student must pass.  In some schools, students are already staging sit-ins to protest these tests.  This could be American youth's new cause célèbre.  ("Hey hey, ho ho.  Standardized testing's got to go.")

Most politicians think the answer to the problems of high schools is to exert more control.  But the real answer is less control.  In the free agent future, our teens will learn by less schooling and more doing.  
(Dan Pink, Free Agent Nation.)

What would Ben Franklin say about the opportunity that Littky offers each of us?

On the final day, as the last delegates were signing the document, Franklin pointed toward the sun on the back of the Convention president's chair.  Observing that painters had found it difficult to distinguish in their art a rising sun from a setting sun, he went on to say: "I have often ... in the course of the session ... looked at that sun behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to know it is a rising and not a setting sun."
http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/GOV/frankln.htm 

Answers to the board work:  sand box, long underwear, reading between the lines, man overboard!  Anyone familiar with middle school students will recognize the joyous love of humor.  How can school be reformatted to keep the humor and build relevance and relationships? 
5  What is Next? 
What can each of us do to turn big schools into small schools?
What can each of us do to help small schools become stronger?
Just keep asking those two questions.  The answer will come.  Then act on what you believe is correct.

We might each start by visiting these web sites: www.BigPicture.org 
www.MetCenter.org
Become a mentor:  www.MentorsOnVideos.org 
www.BuildingInternationalBridges.com 

The key to their success is you. 
Become a mentor.  Small schools need adults to come into the school and to listen to questions from students.  As a mentor, your role is easy:  Make sure the students you talk with are given something unconventional.  Give them a role model. 
What Can We Do? 
(Wouldn’t it be nice if change happened instantly after everyone read these quotes?  Wouldn’t it be an efficient world  if we could implement change just by asking every teacher, parent and student to read the facts?) 
1.  Visit a middle school. There is one task that a teacher can’t do or pay for:  getting an adult to speak SINCERELY to a class and to answer their questions.

Your time will spark something in the brains of the kids.  A teacher can’t always make that happen.    You can.  You are a mentor.
2.  Record yourself and send the video to  Box 30555, Ft. Lauderdale, FL  33303, MentorsOnVideo.com.  Let students hear your answers to:  What do you remember from school? 
What did you do to learn to read?
What did you like to read?
What books or articles or magazines do you recommend others to read?
What did you learn in school that you really value today?
What did you learn outside school that you use in your life today?
Do you remember a teacher’s name?  Tell the camera the name of that teacher and why that teacher sticks out in your memory. 

3.   Become a phone mentor. One phone call per day.  Just five or six calls each week.  
4. Ask to become a mentor to a class. The best teacher is a facilitator who allows mentors (adults who are not teachers) to talk with students.. 

5. Read some of these books:  
A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink
Free Agent Nation by Dan Pink
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
See the book list at www.VisualAndActive.com
You can be a mentor.
Just visit a school and ask to sit with a class. 

Tell students how school is related to your work. MentorsOnVideo.org    LookForPatterns.com MathForArtists.com    
Snopes.com   Check out a rumor before passing on something that you heard.  “Let’s all boycott one gasoline company and that will force the company to reduce prices.”  (Oh, yeah?)

In short, Littky’s work is not a “revolutionary” method.  Littky copies what tutors have been doing for millennia --- know the student, shape the curriculum to match the student’s strengths, find experts to train the student, push the child with rigorous material that makes sense to the student.
Why not call Dennis Littky’s office?  401.752.3442 Ask why a “student centered environment” must be in a small school to achieve the results that we are all seeking.

“Education is everybody’s business.” Dennis Littky

Go ahead, click
BigPicture.org      Metcenter.org