Alternative Schools | NW Education

Portland Night High School: Pressing on the Accellerator

By day, Grant High School in northeast Portland pulsates with the energy of 1,500 teen-agers following the rhythms they've come to associate with school. Lockers slam, bells ring, basketballs bounce, textbooks open and close at predictable times.

By night, a few dozen youth make their way downstairs to a corner of the Grant basement. There's a whole different rhythm when Portland Night High School comes to order. Most of these students have already put in a day's work before they slip into their wooden desk chairs. Those who are teen parents (about 15 percent of the group) have had their hands full all day, changing diapers, wiping noses, reading stories. Night school comes at the end of their day, but many of these students say it provides them with a new beginning in life.

For 25 years, Portland Night High School has offered students a way to complete their secondary education even if they've already started a job or a family. "These are the students who used to be frozen out of an education if they had to go to work," explains David Mesirow, who directs the award-winning alternative program and is also one of its five teachers.

Students must choose to enroll in this program, and choice remains a theme throughout their night school experience. The students themselves elect how fast they will move toward high school completion. Regular attendance helps them press ahead, but they aren't punished if work or family demands keep them away from class for a few days. "We're looking for ways to help students along," Mesirow explains, "not to punish them if they're absent." There's no assigned homework, although students can choose to do extra independent work to earn credits faster. "It's like pressing on the accelerator to help them get out faster," Mesirow says.

And grades? Forget about the old A-F scale. Nobody fails classes here. If their performance isn't up to par, they haven't failed; they just have more work to do. Report cards read like bank statements, with an accounting of credits earned and bar graphs showing the percentage of tasks completed. But that doesn't mean credit is given easily. Students must demonstrate their competency in order to earn course credits.

Curriculum includes high school standbys such as math, history, and writing, but the content is skewed to grab attention. A social studies course might focus on "street law," for instance. A class in which students read biographies helps their reading skills, while also introducing them to role models and giving them the uplifting message that "life is like a work of art."

Writing labs offer students a chance to examine the difficult issues in their own young lives. In every class, thinking and problem-solving skills are honed and sharpened. Observed a recent program graduate, "Other schools I've attended teach you a collection of facts. This one taught me how to think."

Teachers at the night school "have to have an uncommon grasp of common knowledge," Mesirow observes. "It takes someone who can be flexible, who is able to listen, and who can help students connect pieces of information."

With room for 115 students and the length of stay averaging four months, this is a school where everyone is on the fast track. Traditional high school class standings (freshman, sophomore, etc.) don't apply here. Students understand that they're finished with school as soon as they complete the requirements for a diploma or pass the test to receive a GED. As a result, Mesirow finds his students "more purposeful" than their daytime counterparts in more traditional classroom settings.

Discipline is seldom an issue, even among students who arrive with a long track record of behavior problems. "We're relatively free of having to teach civilized behavior," Mesirow says.

Small class sizes enable teach ers to get to know their students as individuals and to adapt lesson plans to match specific needs and interests. No one has a chance to feel anonymous or out of the loop. "Teachers speak to everybody in class, everyday. You can't slip through the cracks here," one student observed. Students call teachers by first name and know them as friends, mentors, and role models in addition to instructors.

The deliberately small scale of operations allows for the one-on-one nurturing and tutoring that many students need. "In her old school, my daughter would get jam med up all the time," explained the father of a night school student. "Maybe she wouldn't understand an assignment. So she'd go to her teacher for help. But her teacher would be too busy to help her. So she wouldn't get it done. Then she'd fail the class because of uncompleted work. The same teacher would say, 'Why didn't you get this project done?' Here, they always make time to help you."

With Oregon school reform efforts putting a new emphasis on school-to-work transition, Portland Night High School suddenly finds itself on the cutting edge of innovation. The school-to-work (STW) concept may sound trendy, but this program has been offering a bridge between school and work since its founding a quarter-century ago.

Each student in the night school is expected to work, volunteer in the community, or handle parenting duties at least 16 hours each week, in addition to the 14 weekly hours of evening class. To smooth the transition between school and work, teachers visit the students' worksites. Back in class, teachers can help students make connections between what they're doing on the job and what they're learning at school. In addition, teachers have a chance to talk with employers about ways to make the curriculum mesh more effectively with real-world career opportunities.

Students also create a portfolio, which becomes a tangible record of their accomplishments. Mesirow considers the portfolio one of the program's most valuable components. "It's a habit in our culture to keep track of your stuff," he explains. "Your tax records, your immigration status, your work history—these documents tell who you are."

Student portfolios include a transcript and concrete examples of "what you can do," Mesirow explains. Students learn to use the portfolios as tools during job interviews to show exactly what they are capable of accomplishing. "It's your toolbox," Mesirow tells students, "the very best toolbox you can leave high school with."

The school-to-work program has earned Portland Night High School federal grants, awards, and other recognition. The school serves as a field test site for the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. The Oregon Department of Education selected the school as one of 15 prototypes for what the Alternative Learning Centers called for in recent educational reform legislation.

Despite the acclaim, the school operates almost invisibly in the basement of a large school building that would otherwise sit empty at night. Night school students and staff leave no footprints behind. Operating in classrooms "borrowed" from the day school, the night program is a model for using facilities economically. But the lean arrangement creates some challenges. Teachers don't have access to bulletin boards to create visual displays that might enhance curriculum. They can't leave long-term projects or props up on the walls. There's no school library open at night, and the only drinking fountain in the basement space has been broken for two years. The gym is available to night students only for a few weeks in the spring.

The highlight of the year is the annual night school graduation, an emotional rite of passage for the youth who once thought they'd never get this far and the teachers who showed them the way. Last year, 54 students received high school diplomas and another 24 were awarded GED certificates. An open mike awaits any brand new graduate who wants to share an experience, a story, or a thought that first came to life late one night, in the basement of Grant High.

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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01
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