Implementation Study of Smaller Learning Communities. Final Report. Appendixes

摘要

The Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program was established in response to growing national concerns about students too often lost and alienated in large, impersonal high schools, as well as concerns about school safety and low levels of achievement and graduation for many students. Authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Title V, Part D, Subpart 4, Section 5441(b)), the SLC program was designed to provide local education agencies with funds to plan, implement, or expand SLCs in large high schools of 1,000 students or more. The SLC legislation allows local education agencies to implement the most suitable structure or combination of structures and strategies to meet their needs. The primary purpose of the study was to evaluate the implementation of the federal education law that authorizes funding for the SLC program, by describing the strategies and practices used in implementing SLCs. The report is based on findings from the first group (first cohort) of grantee schools funded under this program in 2000. This first cohort of 119 SLC schools was surveyed at two points in time (spring 2002 and fall 2003). From among those freshman and career academies with the highest student participation and degree of SLC implementation, 18 schools were purposively selected for case studies.