Abstract/Notes: Provides preliminary draft of proposal to kindle thought about what a Montessori secondary school could look like. Suggests ways to think about integrating a farm model and its extensions to adolescent students. Emphasizes the universality of work, the nature of commitment and contribution, the meaning of community, and an optimistic view of society and humanity as a whole. (Author/KB)

Language: English

ISSN: 1522-9734

Abstract/Notes: In May, 1991, the newly chosen Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Ho,vard Fuller, visited Highland Community School. His main question to parents and staff assembled to greet him was, "What lessons can we public school people learn from you?" Highland people had cogent ideas to pass on to him. This book is a more formal response in which I hope the hundreds of people who have continuously created Highland in its first twenty-five years speak through me in answer to him and to his colleagues elsewhere in public education. Highland began in late 1968, and by 1994 was one of only ten schools in the entire country to qualify for state-financed vouchers to independent urban schools. It is small: about seventy ethnically and economically diverse students aged two-and-a-half to ten years, three teachers and three assistants, a full-time executive director, and three part-time helpers, including a parent coordinator. One of the teachers doubles as principal. Annual expenditures per pupil are about $2,800. The curriculum is Montessori-based. The building is a century-old mansion. The school is governed by a nine-member parent board of directors and helped, primarily in fund-raising, by an advisory group of trustees. It is located in Milwaukee's Near West Side, an economically depressed and violent neighborhood (Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment, since razed, was only five blocks from the school). This is the story of a small school. Faced with the vastness of urban decay and its impact on educational institutions, the reader might question whether describing and analyzing this diminutive organization has any relevance to urban education. Despite differences between it and stereotypical urban public schools, however, it brings a message to American education much more important than its size seems to warrant. Its size is precisely the point. Change nucleates and incubates in small settings. Our huge society conditions us to think in terms of large numbers, sweeping change, vast federal programs. Government may be able to create contexts for change, but the changes themselves have to be brought about where individuals assemble to meet their mutual needs. Whether their relationships will be harmonious and productive, or acrimonious and dysfunctional, depends on how the organization is structured and what spirit has been breathed into it. This book fleshes out the organizational and attitudinal reasons that Highland works so well and what public education can learn from this small inner-city educational oasis. As a framework for the organization of this study, let us first review factors that research has revealed make a school effective.

Language: English

Published: New York, New York: Garland, 1997

Edition: 1st

ISBN: 978-1-315-05106-2

Series: Studies in Education and Culture , 10

Language: English

Published: London, England: Sands and Co., 1932

Language: English

ISSN: 0010-700X

Language: English

ISSN: 0010-700X

Abstract/Notes: This narrative study investigated through storytelling the experiences of five students who attended a Montessori middle school and then transitioned to a public high school. The testimonies of the participants highlighted that, to help students make a successful transition to high school, it is useful to consider three elements: (a) developing academic and social-emotional skills, (b) fostering positive attitudes toward learning, and (c) creating opportunities to practice self-reliance, self-advocacy, and grit. The experience of these particular students accentuates the ability of a Montessori middle school to emphasize both academic rigor and the social-emotional skills that build the fortitude necessary for students to successfully transition to high school. This study suggests that Montessori middle school practices may foster the intellectual and emotional growth of students so that they can successfully transition to high school and are potentially buffered from many of the detrimental academic and emotional impacts of ninth grade.

Language: English

DOI: 10.17161/jomr.v6i2.13854

ISSN: 2378-3923

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Language: English

ISSN: 1071-6246

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: This qualitative ethnographic case study explored the evolution of a public urban high school in its 3rd year of small school reform. The study focused on how the high school proceeded from its initial concept, moving to a small school program, and emerging as a new small high school. Data collection included interviews, observations, and document review to develop a case study of one small high school sharing a multiplex building. The first key finding, “Too Many Pieces, Not Enough Glue,” revealed that the school had too many new programs starting at once and they lacked a clear understanding of their concept and vision for their new small school, training on the Montessori philosophies, teaching and learning in small schools, and how to operate within a teacher-cooperative model. The second key finding, “A Continuous Struggle,” revealed that the shared building space presented problems for teachers and students. District policies remain unchanged, resulting in staff and students resorting to activist approaches to get things done. These findings offer small school reform leaders suggestions for developing and sustaining a small school culture and cohesion despite the pressures to revert back to top-down, comprehensive high school norms.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1177/2158244013486789

ISSN: 2158-2440