From Comprehensive High Schools to Small Learning Communities: accomplishments and challenges

Abstract

This article describes progress made in organizing US high schools into small learning communities, a practice spurred by the recognition that many of America's large comprehensive high schools had become impersonal and alienating. Small learning community reforms show a pattern of sustained growth over the last four decades but also frequently fail to achieve instructional improvements. The challenge in making instructional improvements is to pursue sound instructional strategies which small scale uniquely positions teachers to carry out, and to make shifts in district policy and practice which currently pose barriers to adopting such strategies. The Journey of Redesigning US High Schools As a long-term student of high school reform and a former leader of a new small school, we are happy to report that the practice of organizing US high schools into smaller units shows a pattern of sustained growth and consolidation over the last four decades. This is a striking achievement in the world of education reform where even well-designed reforms come and go at a rapid pace. We discern three stages in the evolution of small learning community practice.