THE PRACTICE: Fostering Independent Learning Students learn to design pathways toward their own futures through personalized learning plans, an advisory system, and student-led conferences. These and other strategies help them to identify and achieve personal and educational goals.
Content Presented By:
The Education Alliance at Brown University
National Association of Secondary School Principals

The Policy

U.S. Department of Education
Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) and
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)

No Child Left Behind Act Outlines the Purpose of Smaller Learning Communities

On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which outlined the important purpose of Smaller Learning Communities. The new law gives defined structure to the discretionary grant status of the Smaller Learning Communities grant competition and ensures that Smaller Learning Communities will continue to assist large public high schools, which are defined as schools that include grades 11 and 12 and enroll at least 1,000 students in grades 9 and above.

Grantees are authorized to use their funds to, among other things: (1) study the feasibility of creating smaller learning communities; (2) research, develop, and implement strategies for creating smaller learning communities; (3) provide professional development for school staff in the teaching methods that would be used in the smaller learning community; and (4) develop and implement strategies to include parents, business representatives, community-based organizations, and other community members in the activities of the smaller learning communities.

The Smaller Learning Communities Program is a $125 million competitive federal grant program to plan, implement or expand smaller learning communities in large high schools. Approximately $96 million will be available for new grants. Local educational agencies (LEAs) are eligible to apply on behalf of a large high school or a group of large high schools. In FY 2000, the Department awarded $42.3 million of the $45 million appropriation in the form of 149 grants to LEAs (84 one-year planning grants and 65 three-year implementation grants). A total of 349 schools, serving more than 450,000 students benefited from last year's competition.

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SLCP/overview.html
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SLCP/faqslcp.html
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OESE/SLCP/faqslcp.html#look

The Aspen Institute and Jobs for the Future

ASPEN PROGRAM ON EDUCATION IN A CHANGING SOCIETY
Transforming the American High School New Directions for State and Local Policy
by Michael Cohen Senior Fellow, The Aspen Institute

At a time when high schools must be pathways to college for all students, they are pathways to nowhere for many. (read the complete paper; requires Adobe Acrobat reader version 4 to open; 367 K) http://aspeninstitute.org/ecs/

All Over the Map: State Policies to Improve the High School (2002)
Co-authored by Monica Martinez and Judy Bray, All Over the Map is a new report by the recently formed National Alliance on the American High School. It examines trends, policy assumptions, and tensions that key state education statutes and board requirements hold for high schools. The state policies considered are divided into three categories: policies specific to high schools; policies that detail opportunities to learn; and policies that are new and in rapid flux. Jobs for the Future is a cosponsor of All Over the Map.

To download All Over the Map, go to http://www.hsalliance.org.
For printed copies, fax a request to 202.822.8405, e-mail to hsalliance@iel.org, or mail to the attention of: Publications, c/o IEL, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 310, Washington, DC 20036.

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation Commission Final Report

Key recommendations are presented as part of the Commission's "Triple A Plan," which calls for increased alignment between all levels of education, higher achievement through college-preparatory study, and expanded and more rigorous alternatives to the traditional senior year, so students can explore options and prove their knowledge and skills through a capstone project, internship or other means.

http://www.commissiononthesenioryear.org/Report/report.html

Connecticut
CHANGING CONNECTICUT'S HIGH SCHOOLS

Re-Conceptualizing Connecticut's High Schools: A Blueprint for Continuous Change -- Draft February 28, 2002 and available for comment.

The time has come for dramatic change in our high schools that ensures a more challenging, engaging and supportive experience for each high school youngster in Connecticut.

• Our high schools must provide more, and more rigorous choices for our students from the moment they enter the high school up to and including their senior year.
• Our high schools must provide a safe, positive environment that supports students? growth and development, not only academically, but also socially, emotionally and physically.

http://www.state.ct.us/sde/dtl/curriculum/hs02/newhs02_main.htm
(Acrobat 83 KB/15 pages)

Maine
Center for Inquiry on Secondary Education (CISE)
At the Maine Department of Education

Statement of Purpose
CISE supports research, policy, local and state reform initiatives and other activities which increase the ability of every secondary institution in Maine to adopt the Core Principles and Practices put forth in Promising Futures.

http://www.state.me.us/education/csrd/homepage.htm
Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program
The purpose of the CSRD Program is to assist secondary schools to develop a focused approach to reform and restructuring through the use of a comprehensive reform program that links all aspects of the school. CSRD funds are targeted for secondary schools having the greatest need to substantially improve student achievement of the Maine Learning Results and to help them meet the vision and core recommendations made in the report Promising Futures by the Maine Commission on Secondary Education. This grant is an opportunity for a secondary school to receive funding, $50,000 per year over the course of three years. If your administration and faculty have been engaged in conversation and started planning systemic reform efforts, then this grant could help those plans come to fruition!

http://www.state.me.us/education/cse/PF%20Links.htm
The Report: Promising Future: A Call to Improve Learning for Maine's Secondary Students
The Commission's report to Commissioner Albanese, Promising Futures, recommends an ambitious approach to learning that takes as its goal the attainment of the Maine Learning Results for all Maine youth. Its purpose is to generate creative, student-responsive, and forward-thinking instruction and school organization. Promising Futures is not a menu of mandates. Instead, it is intended to stimulate discussion and action in every school district in Maine so that every one of our teenagers will leave school prepared for his or her own promising future.

The report invites readers, first, to think about six Core Principles that, in the Commission's judgment, lie at the heart of all secondary educational planning and practice. Second, it recommends two sets of Core Practices, one addressing learning and teaching activities and one addressing how the school functions to support these learning and teaching practices. Finally, Promising Futures recommends steps that policy-makers and leaders beyond the school -- school committees, community leaders, state law makers, and professional associations -- can take to encourage and support secondary school improvement. Appendices include suggestions to foster discussion and planning, a summary of findings about the "current realities", and a bibliography of references and helpful resources. (See Table of Contents)

New York
Welcome to What's New from EMSC

High Schools That Work Statewide Pilot Testing Following a comprehensive review of applications received from agencies across the State, eight have been selected to officially pilot the High Schools
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov:80/SB/Summer00bulletin/whatsnew800.html

VERMONT
HIGH SCHOOL INNOVATION

OVERVIEW

The High School Innovation program works to assist secondary schools in implementing innovative approaches to high school renewal.

The program has worked closely with the Vermont High School Task Force, which was created in 1999 by the State Board of Education to examine the status of the state?s secondary education system; the group completed its initial mission in 2002. The Task Force developed a set of recommendations and tools to help guide the high school renewal process; the High School Innovation program focuses on helping the education community implement those strategies. Among the recommendations is the creation of a Center for High School Renewal, which would provide resources and technical assistance to secondary schools and vocation-technical education centers working to integrate innovative practices.

http://www.state.vt.us/educ/cwd/hsi/
During the past two years, Vermont launched an effort to guide and support high school innovation through the creation of the High School Task Force. The Task Force worked to identify how to improve the secondary experience for Vermont students and to develop twelve principles to guide high school innovation. Throughout the state, individual high schools, too, had already explored innovative approaches to restructuring including personalized learning, community based learning, and expanded career development opportunities as ways to improve student performance and school climate.

This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu