"High standards is what many parents want these days...and they're going to get them. The only question is where. In the public schools, there is the Bellevue International. Proposed by six teachers, it was started in 1991 in the buildings of an old elementary school. Only recently has it received money for a lab building, art rooms and an auditorium. What it has always had is a requirement of French or German starting in the sixth grade. It has insisted on the right to flunk students at the end of eighth grade. Humanities teacher and co-founder Bruce Saari says the school is so popular with parents that it uses a lottery to limit admissions. --Bruce Ramsey, Seattle P-I, 10/1994 |
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Credo:
Outstanding schools are those that have found the way to unleash the promise inherent in every public school. They have discovered how to challenge students to excel. They have encouraged personal and academic growth. They have pledged themselves to uphold time-honored educational values: A return to academic rigor. A coherent curricular design that extends and applies previous learning. A return to the basics that equips students to turn in powerful performances as they begin to assume full responsibility for their academic success. Schools should be designed to create school cultures where scholarship, friendliness and trust are the norm. Schools should rekindle the joy of learning by becoming exciting places for scholarship and personal growth. Small learning community programs should hold each student accountable and responsible for making a full commitment to the educational process. Classroom activities must be applicable, results oriented and engaging. Students must regularly see that they have acquired meaningful knowledge, basic and advanced skills in each content area. Each student must also find his or her voice: secure enough to question classroom material, to ask for help when necessary, and to take the risk of engaging with others in a culture that embraces continuous improvement. If small learning communities are to fulfill the dreams of their creators, all teachers in the program should be carefully selected for their expertise in designing learning sequences, as well as for their commitment to high standards, to student-centered learning, and to the values of inquiry and discovery. Teachers must see themselves as students and researchers--still working on the problems and mysteries that their lessons present to students. In order to achieve the highest and most satisfactory student performances, curricular organization must be thematic, seamless, and educationally sound. Our schools should also take the lead in fostering the qualities of intelligent and thoughtful citizenship. They can do this by emphasizing the importance of a meaningful and realistic encounter with human history, and by instilling the attitude that a knowledge of the past is essential if one is to understand and help shape the present. Schools must also inculcate the values of initiative, hard-work and application. If curriculum is designed and delivered in a professional, supportive and academically responsible manner, then those students who do not master a course's content, or who need more time to develop their skills as scholars, must repeat that course the following year. Parental support and acceptance of these goals will be essential to every school's success. |
© 1998, 2006