Creating New Small Schools:
Do They Work? Can We Afford Them? Can They Drive Systemic Change?

A Forum — October 30, 1998

Small schools are not about size only, they are about relationships, agreed the panelists in the first AYPF’s new lunch-time forum series in collaboration with the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE).   Anne T. Henderson, co-author with Anne C. Lewis of Urgent Message:  Families Crucial to School Reform, introduced the group of panelists, who are involved in reforming District 8 schools in the Bronx, one of the poorest school districts in New York City.

The Center for Collaborative Education (CCE), explained Heather Lewis, its co-director,  got involved with the District 8 reform through its Campus School Project.  CCE is a non-profit network of schools where parents, teachers and principals share similar values and beliefs about the learning process.  Although the organization represents a network of public schools, its outside structure makes CCE a powerful advocacy and fundraising tool for innovation in education.  In partnership with the New York Board of Education and the United Federation of Teachers, CCE raised $3 million from private foundations to its Campus School Project, which aims to replace large comprehensive but low-performing high schools with small schools driven by high standards.  In the Bronx the project includes two of the four 9-12 academies in the James Monroe Education Complex Schools (Bronx Coalition Community School for Technology and the New School for Arts and Sciences), an elementary and a middle school recently open.  In addition, the project has also opened two off-site 9-12 schools in the area (Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School and the Wings Academy).

While CCE represents concerned school personnel trying to improve school outcomes,  Mothers on the Move (MOM), represents a new generation of parents struggling to bring reforms to their children’s schools.  MOM is an independent nonprofit organization that currently includes about 700 parents, explained its co-founder, Mili Bonilla.  The organization grew out of adult literacy classes attended by graduates of South Bronx schools who could barely read or write.  Realizing that the literacy classes were a consequence of their failing schools, a few parents decided to fight for school reforms, so their children would not graduate without even a basic education, as they had done.  Through a door-to-door campaign, MOM organizers mobilized parents to address the issue of failing schools.  MOM also mobilized the community to vote at the School Board elections and elected two of their members to the Board.  Through a persistent and organized campaign, MOM members were able to oust the superintendent, who had been in control of the District 8 schools for more than 20 years, and initiate the needed reforms.  MOM continues to provide leadership training and space for parents to organize.  Systemic school changes can occur only if based on grassroots movements, says Bonilla, for whom parental power, rather than
parental involvement, is the answer for attaining policy changes.

Among the reforms initiated in District 8 by the new superintendent was the closure of a large high school and its replacement with smaller academies.  In New York City, explains Edwina Branch, small schools are those with 600 students or less.  After being with the New York City schools for many years, Branch felt it was time to change.  She got involved with CCE’s Campus School Project in 1993 and is now the founder and principal of New School for Arts and Sciences, an alternative school with 350 students from grades 9-12, which is part of the James Monroe Education Complex Schools in the Bronx.  Schools are more than buildings, says Branch, they are communities, and this is what ensures that a school can be small even when it is located in a large building.  For Branch, the advantage of small schools is that staff can be more attentive to individual students’ needs.  In addition, the small size allows for the development of a strong feeling of community where parents, teachers and students can work together.  Parental involvement is essential to build this community, says Branch, and principals and teachers are responsible for making parents feel welcome in the schools.  She advocates an open door policy for principals and encourages teachers to call parents not only to complain, as they usually do, but also to share their children’s success.

After MOM succeeded in replacing the old superintendent, Betty Rosa was hired as the new Superintendent of Community School District 8, overseeing 22,000 students and 27 schools.  Rosa is enthusiastic about small schools, although she recognizes that children have many needs and solutions must be diverse.  According to Rosa, one size fits all cannot be the motto when children are involved.  For instance, one of the problems she had to address was the impact of gang membership.  Students joined gangs during middle school and refused to move to the assigned high schools because of turf issues.  A decision was then made to open high school courses in the middle school after 2:30 P.M.  Schools are now open from 7:30 A.M. to 10 P.M., six days a week.  Rosa urges educators to stop thinking about education in the old ways because given today’s possibilities, it is unfair tie ourselves to the past.  For Rosa, small schools are not only about buildings.  They imply new perspectives for the role of schools, including curriculum, schedules, and other aspects of students’ lives, such as health, mental health and social problems. The advantage of small schools is that they push people into trying new ideas.

Norm Fruchter, Director of the Institute for Education and Social Policy, at New York University, evaluated over 100 small schools, half of them high schools, and found they tended to provide positive outcomes for students.  His research did not confirm the general idea that small schools perform better because they have more money, better teachers and “cream” the students.  Indeed, small schools, when compared to traditional schools, tend to have younger, less experienced teachers with less certification.  They also have higher percentages of minority and economically disadvantaged students.  Fruchter observes that small schools tend to have higher costs per student, due to their small size.  However, because their graduation rates are higher, their cost per graduate is smaller than those for large schools.  Fruchter cites closer relationship with adults, counseling services, a curriculum focused on a smaller number of key courses, and the interaction between parents and schools as contributing factors for the success of small schools.

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