In This Issue

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What seems like about a hundred years ago, I stood on a football field at twilight with my fellow graduating seniors from San Ramon High in Danville, California. There were 365 of us—same as the number of days in a year. As we took turns crossing the makeshift stage to receive our diplomas, I was struck by how many faces I had never seen before that night. I wasn't alone. My best friend leaned over partway through the ceremony to whisper, "Who are these guys?" I suspect that many of us were wondering the same thing: How could we have spent four years attending the same school and wound up as strangers?

Many American youth continue to attend schools so large that they can't possibly get to know the majority of their classmates. Nearly three-quarters of today's high schoolers share a campus with more than 1,000 students, and nearly half attend high schools enrolling more than 1,500. Elementary schools tend to be smaller, but it's not hard to find a middle school pushing up toward 1,000 students, especially in urban areas.

Ironically, while American schools have been growing steadily larger, researchers have been identifying the benefits of smaller learning communities, where education is more personal and nobody feels like a stranger. In smaller schools and schools reorganized to "feel smaller," students have a better attitude toward school and make stronger connections with teachers and other adults in the school community. Such ties can boost student achievement and offer a powerful antidote to alienation.

For this issue, we went searching for places in the Northwest region where educators have elected to "think small." As you'll see, the benefits can be sizable for students and faculty alike.

First, we visit two Oregon schools that have earned the title of New American High Schools. Both have found creative ways to make their large schools feel more personal by reorganizing into grade-level houses and career academies. Their experiences make for especially timely reading, with the U.S. Department of Education supporting reforms through its Smaller Learning Communities initiative. Next, we show you how the Tacoma, Washington, district has managed to reduce class sizes in the earliest grades, and describe how teaching practices are changing in these smaller classes. We head off on a road trip to Montana's rural schoolhouses, where buildings are historic but teaching practices are in synch with some of the latest trends in education.

In a story called "They Wouldn't Teach Anywhere Else," you'll meet a trio of prize-winning teachers from our region who have devoted their careers to working with students in small schools. In places as far apart as Alaska's Bristol Bay and Idaho's Long Valley, these teachers echo the same refrain: "We really know our kids." As one of them was quick to add, it's not that teachers and students can't get well-acquainted in larger school communities, "but it's sure a lot easier in a small school."

As always, we welcome your comments and reactions—whether you're from a big school, a small school, or one that feels "just right."

—Suzie Boss
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