Drive for Small Schools
By Caroline Hendrie
New York
"Racking up the F’s as he drifted through 9th grade at a 2,500-student high school, Ansel Farrell seemed well on his way to becoming just another dropout from the Bronx.
Then came a fresh start as a freshman in one of this city’s new generation of small public high schools. Now he is wrapping up 10th grade at Bronx High School for the Visual Arts with a portfolio that recently landed him in an expenses-paid summer program designed to prepare disadvantaged young artists for college.
"Before I came here, I had no goal in life," said the 18-year- old immigrant from Trinidad, as he leafed through his portfolio after a recent art class. "Now I go to school because I want to be an artist. I love attention. I want to be famous."
Big dreams like that are just what New York City’s sweeping initiative to start new small high schools is all about. Determined to give thousands more teenagers like Mr. Farrell a reason to come to school, education leaders here are in the midst of what is arguably the nation’s most ambitious drive to "scale up" scaled-down schooling."
(...excerpt from EducationWeek. have to register to read more. sorry...jim)
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