Posted on: Monday, April 25, 2005

Schools aim for 'relevant' learning

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

The goal of "smaller learning communities" is to improve student achievement and performance by creating a more personalized setting for them at large high schools.

Nine hundred thirty-one high schools nationally, including 10 in Hawai'i, are "redesigning" their academic structures with $45 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education. The 558 different strategies being employed include "schools within schools," career academics, restructuring school days, instituting personal adult advocates and developing teacher advisory systems.

"The schools choose the models that best fit their student population and community," said Aileen Ah Yat, coordinator of the Hawai'i SLC Consortium. "The bottom line is to increase academic performance through implementation of SLC for all students."

The structure for freshman and sophomore SLCs being used in Hawai'i calls for a minimum of three teachers — English, science and social studies — assigned to each "house" or SLC. The intent is to make student learning "more rigorous and relevant," Ah Yat said.

Students are selected randomly because of U.S. Department of Education requirements, Ah Yat said. "You can't put students in SLC based on grades or test scores," she said.

The 10 schools awarded grants for the projects in Hawai'i are Waipahu, Campbell, Roosevelt, Wai'anae, Kaimuki, Kalani, Kaua'i, Lahainaluna, Waiakea and Maui.

Kahuku, Kalaheo and King Kekaulike high schools, which have received planning grants, have applied for implementation grants for the 2005-06 school year.

The movement toward "smaller learning communities" grew out of the shooting spree in April 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., and concerns about the impersonal nature of large high schools.

In the aftermath of Columbine, Education Secretary Richard Riley urged high schools to create smaller, more personal learning environments for students.

The 1999 Appropriations Act for the Department of Education included money for "smaller learning communities" grants.

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.