Daily Breeze: Best Way to Education Students?

Best way to educate students?
Amid debate over how to improve scores, Westchester High School switches to a college-styled schedule.
By Paul Clinton

Westchester High School welcomed students back from summer recess last week with an ambitious restructuring plan to raise achievement and improve the graduation rate at one of the area's lowest-performing high schools.

The Los Angeles Unified school, which has sunk to the bottom fifth in the state academically, moved forward with the reform effort over the objections of teachers and community members who have questioned the school's ability to execute the plan.

Another parent group that formed in the spring has taken a less skeptical approach by pledging volunteers to help in classrooms and offices.

Fresh for the 2007-08 school year, Westchester High School began using a college-inspired class schedule - four classes per quarter rather than six classes per semester - and clustered groups of its 2,400 students into four learning academies, a concept that has taken hold districtwide.

Carson High and San Pedro High have also embraced smaller schools this year to give students more attention so they aren't lost in the shuffle of a 3,500-student mega-campus. Narbonne High in Harbor City and Banning High School in Wilmington converted their schools a year ago.

To create the academies, high schools develop theme-oriented small schools with topics such as business, arts, media and health. The schools also spend district bond funds to divide the physical geography of the campus into zones with logos, signs and other visual branding.

"The most major change one can see at a school is the move into a contiguous space, which creates neighborhoods, personalized instruction and camaraderie," said Ellis Kauffman, a district facilities director. "We believe that this is what urban youth really need. They get lost if they are on a huge campus."

Westchester High finds itself at the heart of a heated debate about the best strategies to provide a higher-quality education to Los Angeles schoolchildren.


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