Chapter 8: The Schools-Within-Schools Reform: A Viable Solution To The Problems of Large High Schools?

For decades, researchers, pundits, and politicians have disparaged the state of the public high school (see, e.g., Angus & Mirel, 1999; Boyer, 1983; NASSP, 1996; National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983; Powell, Farrar, & Cohen, 1985; Sizer, 1984, 1992). These indictments concentrate on three broad areas: (a) high school curricula that stratify students’ social and academic experiences; (b) social environments in which students are not known well by their teachers; and (c) low levels of student engagement and achievement. These unfavorable characteristics are more frequently found in large high schools, which are educating an increasing proportion of U.S. students.