[Below is a forwarded message from Steve Carpenter, a high school teacher &
modeler from Santa Rosa, California, about the 'schools within a school'
newspaper story that Bernard Cleyet posted on Sept. 3. I found that article
interesting! It sounds like something I'd enjoy, if I were a teenager in a
huge school. The chief purposes are to improve academic achievement and
provide more personalized schools.
... Piner High School in Santa Rosa used to
have a community structure like the one you are describing. The program,
which was really a series of "communities" designed around specific emphases
and funded by varying sources (some in district, some out of district) was
eliminated by our board several years ago, much to the dismay of almost
everyone involved. The politics of testing being what it is, we had a
difficult time streamlining curriculum across communities, agreeing on
assessment methods and criteria, and so on. Uniformity is in these days.
Reading the post you sent brought back many fond memories. The other
drawback was that the board had mandated that half of the school remain
traditional throughout the restructuring. The blend of approaches on campus
led to a fair amount of arguing over resources and so on. A great deal of
time and energy has been logged on our campus seeking to make the community
structure work. We made some significant strides along those lines, but we
are very much a traditional, comprehensive high school now. I have not
thrown away any of my files, however--I'm banking on the pendulum swinging
back sometime in the near future. Modeling was met with a great deal of
enthusiasm by those with whom I was able to share a bit of what I was
learning, even if I was able to communicate only rudiments of the
methodology. The community structure attracted a number of teachers from
all disciplines who are very interested in questions of pedagogy and
effective teaching. I miss the interaction and the opportunity to seek to
articulate what I hoped to achieve in my physics classroom. I'm a bit
isolated now, and not working closely with anyone who is open to significant
pedagogical change. All the talk is of content, not process or pedagogy. I
would welcome a modeling refresher and an infusion of new ideas and
structured feedback on my current practice. The Modeling program is still
by far the most valuable training I have received.
Sincerely,
Steve Carpenter
This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.