A test of whether smaller can be better
Three high schools spring from one
The senior strutted through the high school hallways in rhinestone heels, pausing every few feet to greet teachers and administrators who peppered her with reminders.
Sign up for the SATs. Come by the classroom so we can talk about your college essay. Ask your counselor about that scholarship.
At The Engineering School, one of seven small high schools that opened yesterday in Boston, Alafia Spencer could not disappear into the crowd. The aspiring aerospace engineer helped found the 350-student school, proposed challenging math and science courses, and now, in her last year, is banking her future on it.
But visions of taking college-level calculus and other Advanced Placement courses were quashed yesterday when she received her schedule midway through the morning. There would be no yearlong calculus class, no AP classes.
For Spencer and other students at her new school, the first day was a mix of uncertainty, confusion, and yet, glimmers of better weeks to come.
The Engineering School and the other new smaller high schools represent an opportunity the school system has created for more than 4,000 high school students. With smaller schools, the system hopes to improve education, prevent the lowest performers from dropping out, and give top students the toughest classes they can handle.
Boston, like New York City and other school systems around the country, is taking a gamble -- dismantling large, often troubled high schools into more personalized settings. While there is no evidence that small high schools work, administrators say it gives them a better shot at reaching all students.
In the smaller schools, teachers get to know each student and, in at least one school, provide twice-weekly progress reports. Advisers stick with the same students for four years. Students land internships that relate to their school's academic theme, and get a voice in how their school is run.
The Engineering School is one of three schools to spring out of the former 1,100-student Hyde Park High, which had one of the lowest attendance rates and highest dropout rates in the system. About half of Spencer's class flunked the math and English MCAS tests in 2004.
The school, while its goal is to offer higher-level math and science classes, faced a dilemma: Too few students were prepared for such classes, so the headmaster decided not to offer them this year because he did not have enough teachers to teach both advanced and regular courses.
Because the school did not offer a calculus class, Spencer and five other seniors who took precalculus at Northeastern University this summer will repeat the subject this semester. Their headmaster has promised to squeeze calculus into their schedules by the end of the year, either by offering it after school or at a nearby college during second semester, and vows to offer Advanced Placement courses in future years.
''I wonder if that's going to slow me down," Spencer said. ''I'm applying to MIT. I need classes related to math and science that boost my application, so I'm kind of disappointed."
Other small schools at the former West Roxbury High School opened yesterday with advanced classes in biology, statistics, and calculus for just a handful of students, but made the trade-off The Engineering School chose against: larger classes for other subjects.
''It's a transitional period and there's nothing I can do about that," said Mweusi Willingham, The Engineering School's headmaster, who is requiring all 40 seniors to apply to a college by December. ''My job is to find that balance -- how to move Alafia forward and how to move everyone else forward."
Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant pushed to create small schools two years ago, when two large high schools first split into six individual schools. Boosted by a $13.6 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and $8 million from the Carnegie Corporation, Payzant is hanging his legacy on the success of small high schools.
But 2004 MCAS scores for the first incarnation of small schools created at South Boston and Dorchester High Schools show mixed results. Four of the six schools posted test results that fell below the district average, with more than a quarter of sophomores flunking the math and English exams.
However, at most of the small schools, a higher percentage of students passed the state tests when compared with 2003 scores for the large schools they once attended.
The Engineering School is housed in the basement of the former Hyde Park High. Two other schools with themes related to social justice as well as health and science are on the ground and top floors.
Students at The Engineering School need four years of math and science to graduate, instead of three.
Those who did not sign up for a fourth year of math and science were automatically enrolled in the classes by their guidance counselors.
Donovan Brown balked when he received his schedule yesterday.
''I don't need physics," the 17-year-old complained to his counselor. He expected to coast through his senior year after having already completed three years of science.
Despite his reluctance, Brown, who wants to go to college and study engineering, paid attention to his physics teacher, Erica Wilson. She immediately gave students an experiment on figuring out reaction time. They had to measure how fast they caught a yard stick she dropped from the air.
Wilson, one of two new hires with engineering backgrounds, also teaches Spencer's pre-engineering course, which will have lessons provided by the Museum of Science as well as daily labs. That class has 11 students enrolled; eight showed up yesterday.
Today, the former software designer plans to introduce the different fields of engineering and talk about career options and gender equity.
Spencer said she feels fortunate to catch an early glimpse of what engineering will be like. She is carrying on with her college plans, hoping that a lack of calculus on her transcript won't hurt her chances of admission. Yesterday her guidance counselor handed her a letter from Smith College that invited her to apply.
''At least the freshmen now will have the opportunities," Spencer said. ''This school is still like a newborn. You can't expect a newborn to walk and talk -- even though it is my last year."
Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com. Wh