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Gates Foundation Changing Focus on High School ReformIn 1999 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation began a push to shrink the average size of American high schools with the goal of reducing dropout rates and preparing students properly for college or work. The premise was smaller schools - those with 400 or less students - would provide better learning environments, where teachers and students knew each other. These often came about by breaking one large school into smaller divisions, each with its own distinctive and autonomous system, but still occupying the same building. "We looked at good schools, and they were autonomous, and made the hypothesis that autonomous was an important ingredient," said Tom Vander Ark, the foundation's outgoing executive director of education giving in a recent SeattleTimes report. "But there were problems with that hypothesis...and I think we know today that what struggling schools need more than autonomy is guidance." After six years and mixed results, the Gates Foundation has changed its focus, now offering grants directly toward improving instruction in schools.
Questions, ideas, or in need of more information? Please contact Stacey Pusey at 302-295-8349. |
"Foundation's
small-schools experiment has yet to yield big results"
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