For Immediate Release: February 4, 2008
Contact: Brett Bradshaw
(510) 433-1926
San Francisco, CA:Representatives of the nation’s most effective small high schools met in San Francisco this weekend to discuss how to design and nurture small schools that will meet the needs of chronically underserved students. These educators from the Small Schools Network of the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) gathered for their quarterly network meeting to exchange experience, tools, and strategies and to shape the national conversation around designing high quality, intellectually challenging, and equitable schools. The meeting was focused on identifying and redressing inequities in schools and how smallness enables the kind of instruction and learning that results in success for students, particularly those for whom traditional high school have been little more than dropout factories.
CES Small Schools Network meetings are held in different locations around the country and are designed to build a learning community of educators from both new and experienced CES schools. Currently, the network is comprised of some 60 exemplary schools representing many of the most effective high schools in the nation. “We are pleased to welcome this elite group of practitioners to San Francisco and are proud to have local schools included in this effort,” said Gregory Peters, executive director of the San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools (SF-CESS), the CES center in San Francisco.
The power of this learning community is derived from the exchange of knowledge and expertise in which experienced CES schools mentor design teams through the process of creating new small schools. This school-to-school approach is a uniquely effective way to launch new schools and to sustain experienced schools committed to continuous improvement. In addition to activities that support the on-going efforts of SSN schools, the meeting sought to highlight the innovative small schools work happening in San Francisco, including the district’s small schools policy, Small Schools By Design.
The group heard from Anthony Smith, Deputy Superintendent for Instruction, Innovation, and Social Justice, about the need to engage the entire community in the effort to insure that all students receive a quality education. Decrying the district’s over 40% drop-out rate among African-American, Latino, and Samoan students, Deputy Superintendent Smith said, “We need to do something different, and we need to do it now. Small schools by design are a great way to ensure that each and every one of our students – particularly those most in need – are known well and challenged in an environment that fosters a love of learning.”
SFUSD is partnering with CES, the nation’s oldest and most effective small school reform organization, to use the Small Schools by Design policy to create personalized and equitable instruction as a strategy to address issues of low achievement in the district’s schools. Earlier in January at an event at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco, CES and SF-CESS welcomed over 100 people to discuss the possibilities of small schools and to learn about the innovations and successes that are on the docket for San Francisco. “San Francisco’s Small Schools by Design policy is one of the most advanced in the country,” said CES Executive Director Lewis Cohen. “This city is poised to become a national showcase for school transformation and we are pleased to bring our Small Schools Network here to learn from this exciting work.”
A visiting member of the SSN, Samantha Brooks, who teaches at Empowerment High School in Houston, Texas, said, “We’re excited to hear about what’s happening in San Francisco and hope that by sharing our expertise with local educators we can help close the achievement gap here. At the same time, we’ve benefited from seeing the innovative work happening here and we look forward to taking those lessons home and applying them to the schools in our communities.”
In February 2007, the San Francisco Board of Education adopted the new policy, paving the way for the creation of at least five autonomous small district schools that will be given latitude in their budgeting, staffing, and instructional approach. The remainder of the year saw dramatic decisions in support of this policy, including the appointments of Superintendent Garcia and Deputy Superintendent Smith and the approval of the city’s first new small school under the policy, the Bayview Essential School of Music, Art, and Social Justice (BES). Approved in December 2007 and slated to open in Fall 2008, BES will be the first high school within the neighborhood of Bayview-Hunters Point. Two existing small district schools, June Jordan School for Equity and The San Francisco Community School, have also been approved to exercise the benefits of the policy. The district is currently evaluating proposals for two more schools.
About CES
The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) is an education reform organization dedicated to transforming American public education so that every child in every neighborhood, regardless of race or class, attends a personalized, equitable, and intellectually challenging school. CES network schools around the country have higher achievement levels on every measure of success - including higher graduation rates and college entry rates, as well as higher levels of student and faculty satisfaction than comparable schools. Education reforms pioneered by CES have become common currency in policy debates around the country. The organization’s growing network includes over 300 diverse schools in 36 states. The CES National office is in Oakland, CA.
About SF-CESS
San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools (SF-CESS) is a CES Center that makes an impact on the design and sustainability of new and existing small schools in San Francisco by providing coaching, technical assistance, and professional development focused on equity, inquiry and achievement to a network of schools.