Think Small: Making Education More Personal | Smaller Learning Communities

Volume 6 Number 2
Winter 2000

Think Small
Making Education More Personal

articles · departments · colophon · upcoming issues

Cover: Nye School in Montana's Stillwater County

ON THE COVER:
Nye School is a one-room schoolhouse in Montana's Stillwater County. This year's enrollment includes 11 students, grades 1-6, who gather to learn in this historic stone building.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SUZIE BOSS

In This Issue

Big Lessons on a Small Scale
Study after study has tallied up the benefits of both smaller schools and smaller class sizes. Nationwide, educators are finding innovative ways to tap the benefits of downsizing.

Support For Smaller Learning Communities

Making it Personal
In Milwaukie, Oregon, a large suburban high school personalizes its approach to teaching and learning, and emerges as a model of success.

Sometimes, a Great Notion

Back to the Future
An expert on small schools returns to her big high school, discovering new energy about learning and a refreshing focus on the future.

Tacoma's Glass Slipper
An urban Washington school district concentrates funding where it matters most: helping young students get off to a Great Start.

Tapping the Benefits of Smaller Classes

They Wouldn't Teach Anywhere Else
Award-winning teachers from three rural schools sing the benefits of teaching and learning in small, caring communities.

Big Sky Legacy
In Montana, small schools aren't a bold new idea. They're a way of life.

Montana Fast Facts

Forget Isolation, We're Online Now
Technology promises to connect students in isolated places with the wider world. But high-tech classrooms won't work without good teaching practices.