Current Challenges and Future Direction

Glenville has done a commendable job of implementing SLC strategies. However, its transformation has just begun, and the school still faces challenges. A period of rapid change, although positive, is also stressful. Anticipating this, the administration at Glenville made a decision to adopt a more stringent discipline code. As a result, the number of suspensions has remained high. In response, the school has opened a behavior intervention center and has encouraged the use of trained peer mediators, in addition to tackling this problem through the existing SLC strategies such as Twilight Academy.

While all Glenville freshmen and sophomores belong to academies, only about 30 percent of juniors and seniors are academy members. To respond to this discrepancy, Glenville plans to reorganize the entire school into four small schools-within-a-school, serving grades nine through 12. Each will have its own identity and specific instructional focus, and will function autonomously with its own principal, teacher leaders, and budget. Current SLC strategies such as freshman and sophomore academies and block scheduling will continue to be used by each small school.

Sometimes a move to schools-within-a-school can lead to the uneven distribution of students across schools based on ethnicity, economics, and achievement. The leadership at Glenville may need to develop a strategy so unity will not be lost because of this well-intended move.