Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Calif., is one of those, ranking No. 423among the top 2 percent in the countryon NEWSWEEKs annual ranking of Americas top high schools. The success of small schools is apparent in the listings. Ten years ago, when the first NEWSWEEK list based on college-level test participation was published, only three of the top 100 schools had graduating classes smaller than 100 students. This year there are 22. Nearly 250 schools on the full NEWSWEEK list of the top 5 percent of schools nationally, available on Newsweek.com, had fewer than 200 graduates in 2007.
Although many of Hillsdales students came from affluent households, by the late 1990s average test scores were sliding and it had earned the unaffectionate nickname Hillsjail. Jeff Gilbert, a Hillsdale teacher who became principal last year, remembers sitting with other teachers watching students file out of a graduation ceremony and asking one another in astonishment, How did that student graduate?
So in 2003 Hillsdale remade itself into three houses, romantically designated Florence, Marrakech and Kyoto. Each of the 300 arriving ninth graders are randomly assigned to one of the houses, where they will keep the same four core subject teachers for two years, before moving on to another for 11th and 12th grades. The closeness this system fosters was reinforced by the institution of advisory classes. Teachers meet with students in groups of 25, five mornings a week, for open-ended discussions of everything from homework problems to bullying and bad Saturday-night dates. The advisers also meet with students privately and stay in touch with parents, so they are deeply invested in the students success. Were constantly talking about one anothers advisees, says English teacher Chris Crockett. If you hear that yours isnt doing well in algebra, or see them sitting outside the deans office, its like a personal failure. Along with the new structure came a more rigorous academic program; the percentage of freshmen taking biology jumped from 17 to 95. It was rough for some, but by senior year, two thirds have moved up to physics, says Gilbert. Our kids are coming to school in part because they know there are adults here who know them and care for them. But not all schools show advances after downsizing, and it remains to be seen whether smaller schools will be a panacea.
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