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May 13, 2008New Study Reveals Short and Long-Term Outcomes of Smaller Learning Communities |
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From Education Newsfeed: The Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program was established in response to growing national concerns about students too often lost and alienated in large, impersonal high schools, as well as concerns about school safety and low levels of achievement and graduation for many students. Authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the SLC program was designed to provide local educational agencies with funds to plan, implement, or expand SLCs in large high schools of 1,000 students or more. The study based its findings on data from 119 grantees from among those funded in 2000 in the first cohort of grantees and surveyed in the spring of 2002 and fall 2003. The report also used data from in-depth case studies of 18 grantees that intended to use freshman or career academies to structure a smaller learning community. Schools reported a number of factors limiting effective SLC implementation, including scheduling and logistical issues, physical space, lack of teacher SLC professional development, and school staffing needs, especially in terms of core academic teachers and guidance counselors. While the study was primarily focused on implementation issues, some limited data on outcomes from the first Annual Performance Reports (APRs) are included in the report along with a number of limitations and cautions in interpreting the data. The data were based on school overall statistics observed immediately before and after participation in the federal program, and in no way imply a causal connection. There was a statistically significant positive trend in the percentage of 9th-grade students being promoted to 10th grade during the post-grant period.
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