Splitting schools may lift results

Two schools are adding administrators and dividing students in a concept known as schools within schools.

By MELANIE AVE

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 30, 2001

TAMPA -- With crowded hallways, poor test scores and impoverished neighborhoods, Mort Elementary is one of Hillsborough County's most troubled schools.

But school leaders began an experiment this year at Mort to make it seem smaller and more personal to students, and maybe, just maybe, turn around student achievement.

Mort and nearby Shaw Elementary are operating as small schools by adding administrators and dividing students and teachers using a concept known as schools within schools.

At Mort, primary and intermediate students report to separate assistant principals and counselors. At Shaw, the school is divided into east and west sections, with two assistant principals, counselors and social workers.

"We now have two schools within each of those schools," said director Cathy Valdes. "There's a lot of research that shows the smaller the school, the more positive effect it will have on the social and academic achievement of children."

Following the research that shows smaller schools often do better in poor neighborhoods, school leaders think that student grades, test scores, discipline, attendance and parent involvement will improve.

The schools are in the top third of the district's most crowded elementary campuses. More than 60 percent of their students receive free or reduced-priced lunches. And in the past two years, Mort and Shaw were given D's by the state.

Valdes said it will take at least three years before major results can be seen, but a progress report will be made to the School Board at year's end .

"I see some results now, just by intuition, observation," she said. "We just need to quantify that."

Craig Howley, an adjunct professor at Ohio University, said research shows the poorer the community, the smaller the school should be.

"Administrators say since the small scale provides all these benefits, we can simulate a small school in our large school," Howley said. "That is a very untested assumption."

University of Michigan education professor Valerie Lee agrees, calling the concept one of the hottest education reform efforts.

She said studies have shown the concept can give students more attention, but not much has been done on whether it helps students academically.

"There's a lot of money going into this around the country. The problem is there's not a lot of empirical research to show that it does much."

Parent reaction seems mixed.

Shaw parent Patricial Oldfield said the new structure seems to be helping her 11-year-old son.

"I feel like he's getting more attention," said Oldfield, 48. "If he's having problems, they're all working with him. He gets more support in everything."

Shari Conedara, whose son David is a third-grader at Mort, said other than seeing more parents attending PTA meetings this year, "I haven't noticed that much of a difference."

Mort and Shaw administrators and teachers say they feel a difference even after the first nine weeks.

Principal Velia Pedrero said the additional administrators help split the workload.

"Without that model, one individual would be responsible for all the students," she said.

Mort principal Lamar Hammer said the adults at the school are better able to know what's going on in a child's life and confront problems more quickly.

One recent day, Hammer said, he noticed a little boy sloshing around in wet shoes. Because he wasn't tied up with administrative work, Hammer hustled the boy into the clothes closet and found him some dry shoes so he could get to class.

"This gives you a chance to get more personal with your service," Hammer said.

Science teacher Mike Miller said the teachers appreciate having their training more targeted to the grades they teach and he thinks the students are responding to the more-manageable division of the school.

"I think it's helping behaviorally," said Miller, 26. "It seems a lot quieter this year. I don't know if that's the effect of it. But if it is, great."

Administrators studied the concept for a year before bringing it before the School Board last April.

The change cost the district about $14,000 for the two schools in administrator salaries. The schools used their $1.5-million in federal funds to hire more teachers and pay for training.

Elementary supervisor Carolyn Luis said if the concept is successful at Mort and Shaw, it could be replicated at other large schools.

"We're just eager to see the outcome of this," she said. "We're very optimistic that this is going to be a successful model."

-- Staff writer Melanie Ave can be reached at 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com.

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