|
Summer 2005
The following list includes both mainstream and critical resources that may be of interest to those involved in small school reform. [See also Herb Kohl's "Good Stuff," page 66.] Readers are also urged to share experiences and additional resources about small school reform on the Rethinking Schools Listserv, which is open to all Rethinking Schools subscribers.
Articles and Books
Beating the Odds:
High Schools as Communities of Commitment
By Jacqueline Ancess
(Teachers College Press: 2003) $19.95.
Big Buildings, Small Schools:
Using a Small Schools Strategy for High School Reform
Jobs for the Future
A recent survey of urban small school reform efforts; includes both large school conversions and autonomous off-site small schools. See www.jff.org/jff/kc/library/0237.
Breaking Ranks II:
Strategies for Leading High School Reform
National Association of Secondary School Principals
A widely used guide in mainstream district reform efforts. See www.principals.org.
Is Small Beautiful?
The Promise and Problems of Small School Reform
Rethinking Schools, Vol. 19, No. 4
A special issue of Rethinking Schools with reports from New York, Philadelphia, Oakland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Tacoma. Articles on teaching and learning in small schools, small schools for community power and social justice, privatization, union contracts and reform, the role of the Gates Foundation, and Small School Resources. See www.rethinkingschools.org or order form on page 71.
Philadelphia Public
School Notebook
The Spring 2005 edition of this independent education paper had a special focus on small schools. See www.thenotebook.org.
A Simple Justice:
The Challenge of Small Schools
By William Ayers, Michael Klonsky, and Gabrielle H. Lyon
(Teachers College Press, 2000) $21.95.
Small Schools:
An Anti-Racist Intervention in Urban America
By Michelle Fine and Linda Powell, in Racial Profiling and Punishment in U.S. Public Schools, edited by Tammy Johnson et al. (Applied Research Center, 2001)
A passionate case for using small school reform to help reverse institutional racism in education. Free pdf at www.arc.org/Pages/ArcPub.html.
Small Schools and Race
VUE Number 2, Fall 2003
A special issue of the Annenberg Institute publication Voices in Education. Free pdf at www.annenberginstitute.org/VUE/archives.html.
Small Schools,
Big Imaginations:
A Creative Look
at Urban Public Schools
Edited by Michelle Fine and Janis Somerville
(Cross City Campaign for Urban Education Reform, 1998) $15.
A useful handbook of tools and information addressing the broad range of issues raised by small school reform. Available from www.crosscity.org/pubs.
Small Schools:
Great Strides
A 2000 survey of small schools focusing on Chicago but addressing familiar issues such as external partners, autonomous vs. multiplex schools, problems of teacher autonomy and tracking between small schools, and discipline problems. Free pdf at www.bankstreet.edu/gems/publications/SmallSchoolsStudy.pdf. (Also see companion papers on history and background of shifts in school size and racial issues in small schools at www.bankstreet.edu/publications/occasional_papers.)
So Much Reform,
So Little Change:
Building-Level Obstacles to Urban School Reform
By Charles M. Payne and Mariame Kaba
An influential article about the many obstacles to successful school reform, based on observations in Chicago public schools. Free pdf at www.ccsso.org/content/PDFs/So_Much_Reform.pdf.
Other
Resources
Making Students Partners
in High School Redesign:
What Kids Can Do
A source for online and print resources for actively engaging students in issues of school reform. Free pdf at www.whatkidscando.org/images/general/WKCDResources.pdf.
Small Schools
Websites
and Projects
CES Small Schools Project
www.essentialschools.org/pub/ces_docs/ssp/ssp.html
The small school project of
the Coalition of Essential Schools.
El Puente Academy
for Peace and Justice
www.newvisions.org/schoolsuccess/
practices/integratedcurriculum/ElPuenteBest.shtml
A description of El Puente's approach to integrated curriculum.
Julia Richmond Education Complex
www.jrec.org
Oft-cited model of successful small schools in shared facility.
New Visions
for Public Schools
www.newvisions.org
Organization promoting small school reform in New York City.
The School ReDesign Network
www.schoolredesign.net/srn
Stanford University-based project led by Linda Darling-Hammond.
Small Schools Project
www.smallschoolsproject.org
Support network for schools receiving funding from the Gates Foundation.
Small Schools
Workshop
www.smallschoolsworkshop.org
Founded in 1991, this is one of the oldest support networks for small school reform.
Urban Academy
www.urbanacademy.org/alternative/urbannews.html
A small school in New York City that has pioneered use of alternative assessment.
Summer 2005
|
CONTENTS