Can small schools make a big difference?
(ER) — Thinking small may be the next big thing at American high schools. From Oregon to New York, school districts are scaling down to combat problems that are very big indeed: high dropout rates, sinking test scores and low attendance. Over the years, plenty of ballyhooed ideas for curing such ills have come and gone. But the “small schools” movement has a powerful godfather in Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and is getting some backing from Washington, too. Schools strategically designed to have no more than 400 students are in place or starting up in at least 41 states. Some urban districts, like Sacramento, California, have converted to all small high schools. In some places, the schools are new; others were created by subdividing large high schools. Now, as the movement expands, educators are watching the outcome closely. Oregon’s Lebanon High School, with about 1,400 students, opened in September with the building divided into four “learning academies,” each one specializing in a
