What is SLC?

The U. S. Department of Education’s Smaller Learning Communities Grants Program provides funds to assist large high schools (1000 students or more) to plan, implement or expand Smaller Learning Communities (SLC). This program is currently managed by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE).

Key Strategies Include:

• Creating schools within schools
• Creating ninth grade academies
• Creating career academies
• Restructuring/extending the school day
• Instituting personal adult advocates
• Developing teacher advisory system
  
  All of these innovations are designed to create a more personalized high school experience for students. These structural changes are designed to support the delivery of a rigorous academic curriculum to improve student achievement and performance.

Smaller Learning Community Structures
Smaller school structures have a number of categories. Effective downsizing initiatives generally utilize multiple strategies to gain the full benefits of a small learning environment. Examples of smaller school structures include academies, house plans, schools-within-schools, and magnet schools. Small school structures, implemented along with other complementary strategies that enhance student learning, are most likely to yield beneficial impacts.

Freshman Transition Activities
Freshman transition activities help ease the difficulties students often encounter as they move from middle to high school. Some schools place all first-year students in their own academy or house setting, sometimes in a separate wing or even a separate building, with extra supports from adults. In other cases, freshman transition includes mentoring from older students, or special career exploration classes designed to set the context for high school as a pathway to college and careers.

Academies
Academies are sub-groups within schools, organized around particular themes. For example, career academies combine key principles of the school-to-career movement - integrating academic and vocational instruction, providing work-based learning opportunities for students, and preparing students for post-secondary education and employment - with the personalized learning environment of a small, focused learning community. Teachers and students integrate academic and occupation-related classes as a way to enhance real-world relevance and maintain high academic standards. Local employer partnerships provide program planning guidance, mentors, and work internships. Career academies share with other restructuring initiatives an emphasis on building relationships between students and adults (teachers as well as work-site supervisors and other employer representatives).

Smaller Learning Community Strategies
Specific strategies that take advantage of a downsized school can be implemented at the sub-school unit level, within an entire building, or district-wide. Most of these strategies have the advantage of making students feel more connected to each other, to adults, and to their school group. Strategies that are particularly effective in making schools "feel" smaller may be implemented on their own or in conjunction with one of the structural approaches.

Alternative Scheduling
Alternative scheduling allows teachers to develop lessons that are more compatible with learning objectives. Alternative scheduling is also conducive to arranging for work-based learning opportunities and integrating business and community volunteers into the curriculum. The length of the class period, the school day, and the school year can be changed to support academic achievement. This is most easily done in smaller schools. One of the more common alternatives, "block scheduling," provides extended class periods that provide teachers with the time necessary for in-depth lessons and experiential learning. These arrangements permit more time for tutoring and intensive projects, facilitate enrichment, and allow lagging students to catch up and advanced students to delve into topics more deeply. They give schools the ability to set a schedule that best suits their needs.

Adult Advocate Systems
Adult advocate systems ensure that at least one adult knows each student well. One quarter of students report being concerned that they and their friends lack an adult who talks with them about problems and decisions, (Shell Poll, Summer 1999). Teachers, counselors, community volunteers, and other school staff can fulfill this "caring adult" role, helping personalize students' experiences in even the largest schools. By meeting with 15-20 students, individually or in small groups, on a regular basis over several years, adult advocates can provide rapport, academic and personal guidance, and links to additional resources when needed. Training for adult advocates and administrative support for the advocate system are critical elements for success.

Teacher Advisory Systems
Teacher advisory systems are similar to adult advocate systems; they organize adults to personalize the high school experience and support academic achievement, working with small groups of students. Some schools and districts establish advisory classes that meet weekly; others schedule students for less formal one-on-one or group time with teachers. Advisory activities may include helping students develop personal learning plans, introducing students to career clusters, helping students select courses, and working with students on postsecondary plans and pre-employment skills.

Academic Teaming
Academic teaming organizes groups of teachers across departments, so that teachers share the same students rather than the same subject. This strategy has much the same effect as a house structure. Teaming links teachers, who teach different subjects, in a team that shares responsibility for the curriculum, instruction, evaluation, and sometimes scheduling and discipline of a group of 100-150 students. Teams share the same planning time, and sometimes share a specific area of the school building. Though more commonly used in middle schools, academic teaming is showing up in restructuring high schools as a way to personalize the learning environment by providing an integrated view of students' progress and creating a group of teachers who can focus together on the whole student. Teams can build a sense of community into the school, enabling students to learn more so they can meet higher standards, (George and McEwin, April 1999; Legters, January 1999).