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Small Schools and Race
VUE Number 2, Fall 2003
An interview with Warren Simmons,  Audio Clip 3
Executive Director, Annenberg Institute for School Reform
What will it take for small schools to effect change on a large scale?
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TEXT VERSION:
I think being clearer about the kind of systems that are going to be needed to essentially develop and support large numbers of effective small schools. I think that much more has been said about creating small schools on a school by school basis than has been articulated about the kinds of capacities educators, organizations, communities, and school districts need to take the small school approach to scale.
That's going to require changes in the way districts allocate resources, changes in the human resource apparatus used by districts, changes in the contractual agreements the school districts have with teacher unions and associations, and administrator unions and associations, and also a clearer articulation of how certain equity concerns are going to be addressed in the context of small schools; special education, students with special needs, English language learners.
And also how the small school structure can be organized to address not only students who are performing well below standards but students who are performing at or above standards and want to continue to make progress. I think the conversations and the products developed by Jobs for the Future are creating a vision for the kinds of pathways small schools need to develop in partnership with higher education institutions and businesses so that students have a set of continuous learning opportunities.
Look, for the Jobs for the Future Margin to the Mainstream Project's vision to be realized, it's going to require a set of complementary changes in K-12 education, in higher education, in community organizations and in the business community. That goes beyond simply changing the structure of an individual school, and the relationships among school staff and students, to changing policies and practice in larger institutions.
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