69“«Ć½

School & District Management

69“«Ć½ in Bostonā€™s ā€˜Pilotā€™ 69“«Ć½ Outpacing Others

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo ā€” November 09, 2007 8 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

Voucher Programā€™s Defeat May Lead to Strategy Shift

When Lindsey Jones was deciding which high school to attend in a district that offers nearly three dozen options for secondary education, she was swayed by the Boston Community Leadership Academyā€™s claims that it would prepare her well for college. She didnā€™t realize how well until she started classes at the 400-student academy, part of a network of small schools the Boston district established more than a decade ago to provide alternatives outside its traditional system of large, comprehensive high schools and selective exam schools.

A , released this week, shows that the academy and the nine other ā€œpilotā€ high schools in the 56,000-student district are seeing more students through to graduation than regular high schools here. They also have significantly higher promotion and graduation rates, fewer dropouts, and fewer disciplinary issues.

Conceived in 1994 as the districtā€™s response to charter schools, pilot schools have won praise from educators, business leaders, and community groups for providing school choice and innovation within the cityā€™s public school system.

Still, some observers say their results are due more to the schoolsā€™ ability to choose or remove teachers, lower proportions of high-needs students, and the control they have in selecting students or weeding out those who are not likely to succeed in them.

Now a senior with a high grade point average, Ms. Jones says her schoolā€™s rigorous coursework, personal attention, and insistence that students apply to and be accepted by at least one college in order to graduate have made her college-ready.

ā€œThat requirement is something to work for. It motivates you,ā€ she said.

It motivates educators here as well, who say there is an expectation at the academyā€”as well as at the districtā€™s other pilot high schoolsā€”that they will do what it takes to help all students master the knowledge and skills they will need to tackle college-level work.

ā€œTeachers here will work with you until 7 oā€™clock at night when you need help. They give you their home phone number. They check up on you,ā€ added Ms. Jones, who is still weighing her college options.

ā€˜Common Senseā€™

Through an agreement between the Boston Teachers Union and city and school officials, the districtā€™s pilot schoolsā€”including 10 elementary and middle schoolsā€”have autonomy in curriculum, hiring decisions, scheduling, and budgeting. In exchange, teachers get the benefit of smaller class sizes and student loads, a degree of freedom in course content and instructional approach, and time for planning and collaboration with their peers.

Class of 2006

Graduation rates were higher for Boston pilot schools than for the public schools as a whole.

BRIC ARCHIVE

SOURCE: Center for Collaborative Education

The arrangement is paying off, according to the study by the Center for Collaborative Education, which reviewed data for more than 20,000 high school students throughout the district for each of the school years in the study.

69“«Ć½ in pilot schools, from all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, do better than their peers at regular high schools on a number of indicators of student achievement and engagement. Even students who have been at risk of failing have higher success rates at pilot schools than their counterparts on other campuses.

ā€œIt is quite common sense that if you provide schools with the control over their budget, if you allow them to hire inside or outside the district without regard to seniority so they can build a faculty with a common vision, if they can tailor a curriculum to meet the needs of the children they serve, and allow them to schedule their time to include greater core academic time for kids and planning time for faculty, that outcomes will improve,ā€ said Dan French, the executive director of the center here, which coordinates several school improvement initiatives in Boston, including the pilot school network.

The program frees participating schools from district mandates and union-negotiated rules, allowing principals, or headmasters as theyā€™re called here, to hire teachers who are committed to a schoolā€™s mission and agree to longer work hours.

Those teachers are expected to build a ā€œnurturing environmentā€ and strong relationships with each of their students. In regular advisory sessions, they also offer individual guidance on academic issues and even social, family, and developmental concerns that might affect studentsā€™ work.

ā€œAt big high schools, there is always a certain tolerance of failure, that you canā€™t help some students succeed,ā€ said Eileen Sullivan Shakespear, who conducts professional development at the school. She spent 24 of her 35 years with the district teaching English and humanities classes at Fenway High School, which sits in the shadow of the cityā€™s historic baseball stadium. ā€œHere, there is an expectation that we wonā€™t let them fail.ā€

That often requires teachers to vary their instruction and work with students individually. But the longer hours and additional work have brought rewards as well, Ms. Shakespear said.

ā€œThat problem-solving, and working collaboratively and collegially with other adults to find solutions,ā€ she added, ā€œhas made teaching so fun.ā€

The flexibility teachers are given to design their own curriculum and delivery of the content, and the longer school day, has made for some demanding coursework at the schools. The students are expected to demonstrate their knowledge in varied ways, such as through multimedia presentations, exhibitions, and portfolios.

Heavy 69“«Ć½ Load

At Another Course to College, a pilot high school with 220 students, all seniors are expected to read some 4,500 pages of literature and write eight lengthy papers that interpret and analyze the readings.

In Robert Comeauā€™s English class, which he models after a college seminar, students recently debated the strengths and intentions of Aeneas, the hero in Virgilā€™s 1st Century BC epic poem, the Aeneid. One student referred back to the classā€™s readings in Platoā€™s Republic, to make a point about Aeneasā€™ integrity.

Later in the year, they will read other hefty tomes, including Danteā€™s Inferno, Franz Kafkaā€™s Metamorphosis, and Gabriel Garcia Marquezā€™s 100 Years of Solitude.

Higher Achievement

Some students performed so poorly on their state math test in the 8th grade that they received a warning score, according to an analysis of two cohorts. On the 10th grade tests, those same students who attended the pilot schools passed at higher rates than their peers in the other Boston public schools.

BRIC ARCHIVE

SOURCE: Center for Collaborative Education

Mr. Comeauā€™s course syllabus boasts that the work is the kind of required reading, writing, and conversation found in ā€œelite private high schools and affluent suburbs.ā€ ā€œWe work to be rigorous and supportive,ā€ the nine-year veteran said.

ā€œWe want to show the kids they can do college-level work. They have to do the readings and participate in the analytical discussions, which is what theyā€™ll have to do in college.ā€

The students at ACC were selected by the districtā€™s lottery system, which makes assignments based on the studentsā€™ choices and several other factors. Some pilot schools require students to complete an application and meet certain academic requirements.

Although the student demographics of pilot schools reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the districtā€”as well as those in mainstream special education programsā€”they enroll significantly lower proportions of English-language learners, students who need separate special education services, and those who were at risk of failing in middle school.

The pilot model, however, has helped some of the schools thrive. ACC, for example, began as a program for 11th and 12th graders within a larger school. The Boston Community Leadership Academy was a failing school in its previous life as Boston High School. Principal Nicole Banham, however, rallied parents and students when the district announced plans to close the school. It is now less than half its original size and somewhat selective in accepting students.

Fair Comparisons?

Such features have raised questions, even among some fans of the program, about whether comparisons between pilot schools and regular high schools are a valid accountability tool.

ā€œI think pilot schools are terrific schools, and I wish we had more of them,ā€ said Ellen Guiney, the executive director of the Boston Plan for Excellence, a local education foundation that supports professional development and school improvement efforts.

ā€œBut these analyses donā€™t point the district in the right direction because they compare pilots to high schools that donā€™t have a selection process, that have to accept kids who come and go throughout the year, and schools where 40 percent of their students scored in the bottom quartile on the state test in the 8th grade.ā€

Boston officials are working to improve those larger schools as well. Over the past several years, the district has divided four of its nine comprehensive high schools into 12 smaller ones and set up specialized programs in the remaining schools.

The pilot model has spread beyond Beantown.

Officials in the 727,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District announced last year that they were working with the Center for Collaborative Education to launch 10 high schools there modeled after Bostonā€™s pilot schools. The Aurora, Colo., district is also adopting the model. (ā€œL.A. Proceeds With Plans to Open ā€˜Pilot 69“«Ć½ā€™ in Belmont Area,ā€ Aug. 9, 2007.)

And last winter, state education officials in Massachusetts approved adapting the model to four schoolsā€”a high school in Boston, a middle school in Fitchburg, and a middle and high school in Springfieldā€”that were deemed ā€œchronically underperforming.ā€ (ā€œEasing Rules Over 69“«Ć½ Gains Favor,ā€ March 16, 2007.)

Attending Fenway has changed Stephon Worrellā€™s attitude about his studies, and, he thinks, saved him from dropping out of schoolā€”physically or mentally.

ā€œThis is a professional environment, so I feel like it is my job to do well in school,ā€ said the senior. ā€œWeā€™re basically doing college work,ā€ he said. ā€œSince I came to Fenway, I actually like learning.ā€

Coverage of district-level improvement efforts is underwritten in part by grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
A version of this article appeared in the November 14, 2007 edition of Education Week as 69“«Ć½ in Bostonā€™s ā€˜Pilotā€™ 69“«Ć½ Outpacing Others

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide ā€” elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Whitepaper
Future-Driven Leadership: Five Goals for Dynamic School Leaders in 2024
This guide offers practical strategies for district leaders to foster innovation, empower staff, support wellness, amplify student voices...
Content provided by BookNook
School & District Management What the Research Says Four Ways to Stop Teacher Turnover From Hamstringing School Improvement
Staffing instability can unravel the social fabric of schools, experts say, unless leaders work to keep connections strong.
6 min read
Woman of color exiting out of a door.
iStock/Getty Images Plus
School & District Management Spooked by Halloween, Some 69“«Ć½ Ban Costumesā€”But Not Without Pushback
69“«Ć½ are tweaking Halloween traditions to make them more inclusive to all students.
4 min read
A group of elementary school kids sitting on a curb dressed in their Halloween costumes.
iStock/Getty
School & District Management 69“«Ć½ Take a $3 Billion Hit From the Culture Wars. Hereā€™s How It Breaks Down
Culturally divisive conflicts in schools have led to increased legal and security costs, as well as staff time spent on the fallout.
4 min read
Illustration of a businessman with his hands on his head while he watches dollars being sucked down into a dark hole.
DigitalVision Vectors