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Boston High School Renewal:
Small Schools Initiative

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $13.6 million to Boston for the creation and development of small, effective high schools over the next four years. Under the grant, Boston will open seven small high schools in 2003-2004 and five new small high schools in 2004-2005. At the end of four years, as a result of the Gates Foundation investment and Boston’s existing innovative small schools, over 30 percent of Boston high school students will attend small, purpose-designed high schools.

Boston is using a range of innovative strategies to create new small schools, all of which are being spearheaded by the Boston Public Schools’ Office of High School Renewal: existing public school facilities will be reprogrammed to become small high schools; new small schools will be created and “incubated” in available facilities; existing small schools will be further developed; and several current programs will become schools.

To create and support small high schools, four core partner organizations will work alongside the Boston Public Schools:

• Jobs for the Future will serve as fiscal agent for the grant and provide design and technical assistance to the new small schools to ensure that graduates make smooth transitions to further education and training. JFF will also help school design teams focus on postsecondary success for students and on strengthening student connections to postsecondary institutions.
• The Boston Plan for Excellence will ensure the integration of small schools development into Boston’s larger high school renewal effort. It will use existing structures to bring lessons of the small schools to bear in removing policy and central office barriers to success.
• The Boston Private Industry Council will provide support and serve as a clearinghouse to help schools launch new school/community partnerships. These partnerships will be developed to enhance the identity of the schools while expanding learning opportunities for students.
• The Center for Collaborative Education will provide substantial assistance in the design, launch, and implementation of new or developing small high schools. This assistance will include an annual summer institute on small school design, an annual Critical Friends Group Facilitator institute, structured visits to successful small schools, and substantial on-site coaching to design teams and small schools.
  

In the first year, the grant will provide funds to transform Dorchester and South Boston High Schools into Education Complexes. Each complex will include three separate autonomous small schools. Purposefully designed themes will guide each school, such as environmental science at Odyssey High School at the South Boston Complex and the Academy of Public Service at Dorchester Education Complex.

A new International High School will enroll 150 new immigrants, ages 14-18, in 2003-2004 and 375 students in its second year. The International High School will serve as a four-year high school for newcomers to Boston, as well as a transition school for students hoping to enroll in other high schools later. Intensive math and ESL will form the core of the curriculum, and a City Life/City Works component will ensure new arrivals learn about the city.

Funds will help the district offer intensive and ongoing professional development to all faculty to implement small school strategies in curriculum design, teaching methods, school-day and school-year schedules, work-based learning, co-teaching, team teaching, student assessment, and other aspects of new small schools in order to greatly enhance students’ literacy and math skills.

The foundation funds include support for the further development of new and existing Pilot (in-district charter) schools to align with the goals of the small schools initiative. These include schools such as Another Course to College, Boston Adult Technical Academy, Boston Arts Academy, Boston Community Leadership Academy, Boston Evening Academy, Fenway High School, Greater Egleston Community High School, Health Careers Academy, Josiah Quincy Upper School, New Mission High School, and Tech Boston Academy.

By creating more small schools with greater autonomy, unified visions, true choice, and the flexibility to adapt resources and concepts to their own needs and by creating small, more personalized learning communities in the large comprehensive schools, Boston will fundamentally redesign the high school system to provide an excellent education to every student.