Volume 19, No.4

Summer 2005

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  • Small Schools, Big Issues

    By the editors of Rethinking Schools

    A rundown of this special issue.

  • Man, I Feel Sorted

    By Joey and Shar

    Bridge:  I am a student who’s been sorted for what class I sit in  I am a student who’s been sorted for what color my skin is   Repeat two times.  Chorus:  Ciarra: Man, […]

  • Parents Fight School Closings

    By Julie Woestehoff

    During the night and on into the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004, a determined band of Chicago Public School (CPS) parents and community activists camped at the front door […]

  • Why Should Only Pre-I.B. Students Be Challenged?

    From a student letter to the Tacoma News Tribune, April 18, 2004

    By Mariana Villegas and Tausha Sabin-Lee, Foss High School

    (from a student letter to the Tacoma News Tribune

  • Questions to Ask About Small School Reform Plans

    What role have teachers, parents, and community representatives played in developing the plans for creating new small schools? What populations will the new schools serve? Will the students select the […]

  • Some Resources on Teaching About School Tracking

    From a student letter to the Tacoma News Tribune, April 18, 2004

    The Students Are WatchingBy Ted and Nancy Sizer (Beacon Press, 2000).Chapter 4, “Sorting,” is a readable chapter that can be used with students to reflect on the meaning and consequences […]

  • Resources 19.4

    By Bill Bigelow, Linda Christensen, Deborah Menkart, and Bob Peterson

    Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.

  • Short Stuff 19.4

    Harlem Teen Detained A female 16-year-old Guinean student at Heritage High School in East Harlem was detained for six weeks, along with a female Bangladeshi teen from Queens, based on […]

  • Strange Stuff 19.4

    Public Schools Killed Terri Schiavo? Marshall Fritz, president of the Fresno-based Alliance for the Separation of School and State, argues public schools have educated the rights and wrongs completely out […]

  • Communities Struggle to Make Small Serve All

    By David Stovall

    For the adjacent Chicago neighborhoods of Little Village and North Lawndale, two working-class, low-income communities (the former predominantly Latino/a and the latter African-American) on the southwest side of the city, […]

  • Student Voices 19.4

    Students Share Perspectives on Their Small School

    Students Share Perspectives on Their Small School

  • Who’s Behind the Money?

    By Barbara Miner

    While names like Rockefeller, Ford, Annenberg, and Carnegie traditionally have dominated foundation-funded education reform, in recent years a new group of foundations has emerged — Gates, Walton, and Broad, to […]

  • Good Stuff 19.4

    By Herbert Kohl

    My three children went to a small, rural high school. Despite the fact that it had only 168 students, it was terrible. For years we fought, along with many other […]

  • Editorial: The Small School Express

    By the Editors of Rethinking Schools

    If we ignore race and money inequities, small school reform won’t help anything meaningful take root.

  • Not in Our Name

    Reclaiming the democratic vision of small school reform

    By Michelle Fine

    Reclaiming the democratic vision of small school reform.

  • Standardizing Small

    How testing and top-down reform can undermine small schools

    By Ann Cook and Phyllis Tashlik

    How testing and top-down reform can undermine small schools.

  • An Open Letter to Bill and Melinda Gates

    By Michael Charney

    Thanks for helping start Success Tech Academy in Cleveland, Charney says, but tell state leaders they’re going to have to fund these ideas too or your money won’t be well-spent.

  • The Gates Foundation and Small Schools

    By Barbara Miner

    The Gates’ $735 million have made them key players in small school reform.

  • Small Schools Doubletalk

    Small schools reform is often accompanied by familiar buzzwords that can mean different things to different people (sometimes called stakeholders”).”

  • Creating Democratic Schools

    A democratic school culture is the best professional development

    By Deborah Meier

    A democratic school culture is the best professional development.

  • A Little School in a Little Chinatown

    By Debbie Wei

    One of the founders of a folk arts-based school slated to open in Philadelphia this fall hopes small schools can create possibilities for reclaiming communities.

  • When Small Is Beautiful

    An interview with Héctor Calderón by Catherine Capellaro

    By Catherine Capellaro

    The principal of Brooklyn’s El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice shows how art can connect students with their communities.

  • Tackling Tracking

    A teacher finds that small school reform presents opportunities to teach about tracking and inequality

    By Ian McFeat

    A teacher finds that small school reform presents opportunities to teach about tracking and inequality.

  • Rhetoric or Reality?

    Do small schools change teaching practice?

    By Linda Christensen

    Do small schools change teaching practice?

  • My Small School Journey

    An Oakland teacher experiences the negative effects of small school reform in the midst of a budget crisis

    By Craig Gordon

    An Oakland teacher experiences the negative effects of small school reform in the midst of a budget crisis.

  • Bargaining for Better Schools

    One union works for meaningful small school reform

    By Diana Porter

    One union works for meaningful small school reform.

  • We’re Not Blind. Just Follow the Dollar Sign

    Chicago's "renaissance" could mean dark age for city's public schools

    By Pauline Lipman

    Chicago’s renaissance” could mean dark age for city’s public schools.”

  • Youth Take the Lead on High School Reform Issues

    Sistas and Brothas United

    By Fernando Carlo, Antoine Powell, Laura Vazquez, Shoshana Daniels, Clay Smith, with Kavitha Mediratta and Amy Zimmer

    Sistas and Brothas United.

  • No Child Left Untested

    By Wayne Au

    It was hour two of Washington State’s mandated standardized test, and Shannon, one of my students at this small public school for former high school dropouts, was wringing her hands […]