SCHOOLS+OF+CHOICE

=HARVESTING NEW POOLS OF TALENT AND ENERGY=

Many American schools and districts are thriving and these successes should be celebrated. In other settings--often rural and inner-city--students have not received equitable opportunities to succeed despite the efforts of sincere educators, parents, and community leaders. In such settings HOPE calls for new structures that can attract talent and energy from existing community resources or from dedicated individuals who can, with great care and perseverance, craft solutions that work with students and communities.

"Business as usual" cannot be expected to succeed in communities where there has been persistent lack of educational success. We are calling for an expansive menu of educational opportunities for families who live in these communities, all under the umbrella of public education. The key will be drawing from new pools of talent and energy; the structures of schools must broaden and adapt to support people who are committed to doing the job.

The following proposals are geared specifically for students who attend schools in communities where there is not a tradition of educational success.

Rural School Districts
Stop consolidation! Stop hour-plus school bus rides and wasteful energy consumption. With the development of biofuel technology there will be a tremendous resurgence of the rural economy and rural schools are often the cultural heart of their communities. Small rural schools are deeply rooted to the bedrock of American values and they now serve as laboratories for small urban schools. Emergency transitional funding must be given to support their continual viability.

Small Schools/Micro Schools
Small schools and Small Learning Communities (SLCs) have been instrumental in improving student academic performance in many urban school districts. Abundant research is emerging about their efficacy on student engagement as well. Still, unfortunately, there are many students who are not succeeding even in these settings; such students might be better served in even more intimate "micro-schools" where teachers can work with their students on a more flexible and personable basis. Networks of micro-schools can be formed to achieve economy of scale. Because of their unique qualities micro-schools will be laboratories for educational innovation, research, and dissemination and thus serve the wider system as well.

The structure of micro-schools will open up many new pools of talent and energy:

Community Partnerships
There are trusted institutions even in communities that are struggling with persisting difficulties. These institutions can take the form of churches, community-based organizations, and hospitals. Micro-schools can be sponsored by trusted community organizations which can also share space and resources.

Learning Co-Ops
Groups of parents, teachers, and community members should be given the opportunity to organize micro-schools in communities that have not experienced educational success. The persisting problems of educational failure will give way to waves and waves of persistent efforts by these dedicated individuals.

This model has been successfully implemented in the countries of Sweden and Denmark where there is a long tradition of "friskole" or "friskolor" inspired by N.F.S. Grundtvig, a nineteenth-century educational reformer (http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/critical_issues/1999/school_choice/). The Independend School Reform Act of 1992 Recent legislation in Sweden, has given groups the right to start their own public schools subject to various demands for standards, equitable financing opportunities for all students, and commitment to democratic approaches. Approximately 15% of Swedish students now attend such schools. Here in the United States there is the growing movement of "Teacher Professional Practice Schools" advocated by Ted Kolderie and "Education|Evolving," a joint venture of the Center for Policy Studies and Hamline University. According to this model groups of teachers are given the opportunity to set up publicly-funded schools.

Home Schooling
In designated communities home schooling should be recognized as one menu item of public education. In such communities willing parents should receive funding for efforts to educate children through a wide variety of approaches.

In addition there should be forms of "blended home schooling" where parents can select combinations of home schooling and public schooling:
 * Home schooled children should have the opportunity to participate in selected programs of public schools such as athletics and the arts.
 * Public schooled children should have the opportunity to receive significant segments of their education at home through the use of various technology and online applications.