Connecting to Stakeholders

At Montclair, education is a communitywide effort, due in large part to the school's respect for community input. This was most evident during the design phase of the SLC program. School staff members initially envisioned a career academy model, but before moving ahead, they held a series of community meetings. When community members, business leaders, the mayor, and town council members met with Montclair High School staff members, it became clear that splitting the entire school into smaller academies was not the community's vision for its high school. Instead, the design team was called upon to develop an approach that championed choice. So, rather than career academies, the school chose to model its SLCs on its existing —and successful —interdisciplinary Civics and Government Institute. The grant funds were used to help implement SLCs in these interdisciplinary areas:

• Center for Social Justice. Students study the influence of social movements on society, culture, and the arts.
• Global Research. This area involves students in research and inquiry methods for examining international issues.
• Interactive Math. Statistics, probability, curve fitting, matrix algebra, and other applied topics are integrated with traditional math content in this award-winning program.
• Medical Biology. Health, wellness, and disease, as well as human anatomy and physiology are the focuses of this area.

The design of these SLCs began with a group of teachers who created the curriculum or adapted an existing curriculum around which to build classroom "community." Students and staff members connected with one another in new and positive ways. As one teacher reported: "I really get to know the 50 kids that are in my SLC. We take field trips together and listen to the same guest speakers. I see them learn to interact with each other, and over the course of the year, we all get to be friends."

Teachers are revitalized through the experience of creating the smaller learning communities. They share their academic discipline with other teachers and, through them, see the content with new eyes. Today, a ninth-grade academy extends the principles of teacher teaming to an entire grade level of students.

To maintain community connections, Montclair has formed an SLC design advisory board, which includes parents, students, business leaders, educators, community activists, and other stakeholders. Board members meet monthly with SLC design team members to share information, ask questions, and provide resources and advice. Board members regularly report back to their constituents on the progress of SLC designs.

The school also provides several information meetings for parents of eighth-grade students and organizes a "tour week" with daily question-and-answer sessions. The goal is to provide students and their parents with enough information to make educated choices.