A Progress Report on Conversions in Washington State

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A Progress Report on Conversionsin Washington
State

• Small Schools Project
• College of Education
• University of Washington

http//www.smallschoolsproject.org
January, 2004
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This presentation provides a brief snapshot of
conversion work underway in Washington State
among high schools that have received grants from
the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation
(BMGF). While the report is neither definitive
nor exhaustive, it does provide a review of the
work in progress, and provides a glimpse of the
significant steps the 22 schools whose data is
included have taken thus far as they move toward
redefining high school in their
communities. This report was first presented at
the Small Is Not Enough Conference, sponsored
by Small Schools Northwest, located at Lewis and
Clark College, in Portland, OR.
Please move to the next slide any time after a
blue arrow appears.
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School grantees in WA receive an unusually high
level of support from BMGF.
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SSP/SSCC works w/ HS in the following
configurations
Schools use High Tech High Design Principles
New facility designed to accommodate 1 large
school or 2-8 small schools
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Transitioning to small schools is a multi-year
process.
Most HS grants begin
Most HS grants end
All survey data provided by school coaches.
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Conversion Strategies
Get-Like 1
Get-Small 6
This school adopted a specific design.
These schools divided their staffs first,
letting variations develop as each staff works
together. Students are assigned randomly to
schools.
Get-Different 10
These schools developed a set of themed or
focused schools first, then assigned staff in
processes that allowed choice. Student assignment
is by choice in some buildings, each small
schools demographics must approximate that of
the entire building.
These schools have not yet determined how they
will redesign themselves.
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• Experiential/Inquiry 7
• Arts Humanities 6
• Health, Human Services 6
• Science/Technology 6
• Business 4
• College Prep 4
• Global Studies 4
• Uncertain by title 28

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How small will the small schools be?
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1/3 schools 2/3 schools
Mode 400
Median 350
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Is there a relationship between conversion
strategy and small school size?
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Personalization
Does the small school have a systematic way
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Teaching Practice
Does the small school systematically use
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1. Conversions are more complex than anyone
imagined. 2. Planning takes longer than planned.
(Our planning was impeccable...)
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3. Individual school grantees receive
insufficient support from their districts. 4.
State regulations are not a real barrier to
conversion efforts.
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5. School data appears to have an impact only
when given a human face. 6. A focus on adult
learning not decision-making and power issues
leads to a smoother transition.
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7. Adult allegiance to comprehensive high schools
is deep-seated among both supporters and
non-supporters of small schools
Big schools in drag -- Michelle Fine
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8. Adult expectations for student accomplishment
change when presented with evidence.
For many teachers, seeing students attend college
who previously would not, challenged their
beliefs about who can and should attend
college. Seeing is believing. Fouts and
Associates Autumn, 2003
We stress they can do it academically. All
students will be prepared and they will have the
requirements. My expectation is not that all
students will go to college, but they will be
eligible if they want to. Fouts and Associates
Autumn, 2003
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9. Transitioning increases frustration,
opposition, excitement, and hope.
AUTHORSHIP
OWNERSHIP
BUY-IN
Transitioning appears to move most staff in
the direction of authorship.
COMPLIANCE
RESISTANCE
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10. Getting the transition underway accelerates
teacher desire for autonomy.
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11. Leadership is the most powerful variable in
the move from large to small.
12. For 9th graders, high school small school.
13. Changing the structure is the easy part.
Changing culture and teaching practice is much
more difficult.
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1. Identify a district office ombudsman/czar
with broad authority to make decisions across
district departments on behalf of conversions,
and answerable only to the superintendent.
2. Develop a set of prior agreements with the
district and union(s). Ensure collaborative
planning time for teachers during the school day.
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3. Involve everyone early. Students, families,
and community members are allies and part of the
solution, not problems. Be transparent about
what you hope to do and why use data to make the
case.
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• 4. Focus adult learning in four areas
• Why change, and why small schools
• Equitable practice
• Learner-centered classrooms
• Change process and what to expect

5. Provide a limited number of design options.
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6. Convince and help teachers to collect and
use a range of data beyond test scores to
understand their students and their school.
7. Make equitable outcomes for all students the
first and final filter for decisions. It may
be difficult to imagine fully what a school that
produces equitable, high results for each student
looks like, but we surely know what it does not
look like.
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What Americans want is simple. They want an
America as good as its promise. -- Barbara
Jordan
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Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never
has, and it never will. If there is no struggle,
there is no progress. Those who profess to favor
freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who
want crops without plowing the ground. They want
rain without thunder and lightning. They want the
ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
-- Frederick Douglass
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Edward Tufte The Visual Representation of
Quantitative Information (1983) Envisioning
Information (1990) Visual Explanations (1997)
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