When the Gates Foundation gave almost $900,000 to Mountlake Terrace High School to break itself into five small, self-contained schools in fall 2003, they had a vision of how things should be.
For example, students should take all their classes in their small school. “Teacher leaders” should replace administrators. Students shouldn’t be transferred from one small school to another.
But in recent years, Terrace officials have loosened the model. That’s left some wondering if it’s the beginning of the end for small schools.
The casual visitor might not notice at first that Terrace is broken up into five schools, but those looking for the right cues can find them. Signs over the entrances to various wings announce that one is entering the Discovery School, for example, or the Achievement, Opportunity and Scholarship school — AOS. There’s also the Innovation School, the Renaissance School and TAAS — Terrace Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Once in a given wing, bulletin boards show pictures of the school’s staff — or students participating in school-specific classes like chef classes.
Even so, students wander from one wing to another.
Starting this year, students can take classes at any school their junior and senior years. In years past, students took all their classes at one school for four years.
“The model is ninth- and 10th-graders in small schools, 11th- and 12th-graders in a more traditional high school model,” said Greg Schwab, Terrace principal.
The reason for the change was mostly financial, he said. When the Edmonds School District made budget cuts last year, Terrace was forced to choose between carrying on the expensive small-school staffing model or keeping electives, he said. They chose the latter.
The Gates Foundation did not renew funding for small schools at Terrace. By fall 2006, the school had run out of money to fund it.
Money isn’t the only reason for the change. Before this year, many upperclassmen were taking classes at small schools other than their own because it was hard to get the classes they needed to graduate.
“I felt like we needed to admit what we were doing and be up front,” Schwab said. “We were saying we were doing the small schools model, but (we were) not really.”
The bottom line is doing what makes sense, he said.
“I don’t dogmatically adhere to something because it’s the model,” he said. “I prefer to use the common sense test: If it makes sense, we should do it.”
The model is idealistic, he said.
“The Gates model is focused on an ideal vision, but it’s not very grounded in reality — the reality of schools day to day,” Schwab said.
For example, the Gates model wanted teacher leaders to eventually phase out administrators, and that was unrealistic, Schwab said.
The school had grant funding for two years to fund teacher leaders, then lost it and thus the positions.
Offering electives has proved to be another problem. When student numbers are small, offering a wide variety of electives is a challenge.
That’s why in recent years more and more electives have become “Super-Terrace” classes open to all students.
Super-Terrace classes now include play production, musical theater, AP courses, bicycling, broadcast and yearbook.
Other electives, like photography, studio art and pottery are still offered only to students at a particular small school.
A discussion has begun on whether all electives should be open to all students, school staff members said.
Also, the school used to have two bell schedules for different schools, which was a scheduling nightmare. A single bell schedule was brought back in fall 2006.
Another change has been is that a student can be transferred to another small school if staff think that will improve performance.
As for the dissolving of the small schools model for juniors and seniors this year, some teachers think it’s working well.
“Other teachers view it as a step toward the demise of small schools,” Schwab said.
Still others want to see Terrace revert to a traditional high school model, but Schwab said he doesn’t see that happening.
“I don’t envision us returning to a traditional high school,” he said. “It’s not a destination, it’s a journey, and we’ve not arrived.”
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