Bellevue International School, Lake Washington International Community School: creating small learning communities designed for student achievement. Bellevue International School co-founder Bruce Saari discusses the second order change behind the success of small learning communities such as Lake Washington International Community School and Bellevue International School.

<BODY> <B><STRONG><FONT SIZE=3>Bellevue International School co-founder Bruce Saari describes the second order change that is required for starting successful small learning communities. Bellevue International School, and Lake Washington International Community School: According to Bruce Saari, starting small learning communities within an existing district--such as Lake Washington International School and Bellevue International School--may be an effective way to develop small learning community programs. In 1990, a team of six teachers, including Bruce Saari, Ph.D., received permission from the Board to establish a new small learning community, grades 6-12 in the Bellevue School District.   <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>The Bellevue International School program was created by six veteran teachers who wanted to find out whether a school could be created that would be a joy to work in, that would produce superb learning results for students, and that would raise the level of accountability, responsibility and investment for all participants. </B></P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Before opening Bellevue International School we met for a year and a half on our own time, and hammered out a vision for a 6-12 school that would create a teaching and learning culture that was authentic, and that required all participants to be accountable to each other. We made a presentation about Bellevue International School to the Bellevue School District Board, and requested their permission to establish the new small school the following year. At that meeting, the Board presented us with a challenge: to garner some form of external support and validation for the merits of our proposal.</P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>Half a year later, we returned with a $300,000 <I>Schools for the 21st Century Grant</I> from the State of Washington: one of twelve from 113 schools that had applied. Unlike the others, we had received the grant based upon the promise of Bellevue International School design and core values, despite the fact that we had no students, no school, and no curriculum. At the next Board meeting, we were given a green light to begin to establish Bellevue International school, and were allocated a moth-balled elementary building that was currently being used as a warehouse and a food-bank. We were ecstatic; but the pressure to open Bellevue International School was on. </P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>We were also given "carte-blanche" to create a program, establish a curriculum, equip a building, and then recruit families and students who were willing to take a risk on an untried idea. </B></P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>I can't begin to describe the sense of obligation that we felt. We were moving from the realm of being teachers in classrooms to teachers who were becoming program designers--designers of Bellevue International School. As such, we would take the credit or the blame for the quality of the program--. A semester of intensive planning led us to a widely publicized launch sequence.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Our first recruitment and information meeting, held on the night of "Desert Storm," brought a grand total of three parents and one student. </P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>But the next, held two weeks later, brought an overflow crowd.</P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>Word about Bellevue International School had spread, and we were on our way to getting the 150 students that we needed in order to open in the Fall of 1991. </P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>As a 6-12 public school, Bellevue International School accepted <U>all students who applied</U>, and final enrollment decisions were based upon a lottery.</B></P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>The founding of Bellevue International occurred in the earliest days of the small schools movement--a movement based upon the belief that elements of the teaching & learning equation needed to be re-examined if public schools were to be renewed. </P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>As co-founders and program developers of Bellevue International School, we knew that our success in improving upon the large high school model would depend upon instituting key "second order" changes that went to the heart of the educational endeavor.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Deep level transformation was our goal, and our first task would be to create an articulated, essential curriculum that deliberately targeted fundamental skills, and that provided continuity of learning experiences over the years. </P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>But in order for this to be accomplished, staff in each department would have to identify and commit to referencing all classroom activities to a core of "essential questions" and skill practices that would underlie all learning activities, as well as link them forward through the years.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Because of our cumulative experience in large American high schools, we knew that we would also have to value and consistently uphold the same performance standards and behavioral expectations for all students, regardless. </P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>Our community and our culture were "the school," a sensible and humanized center that required all students to come together under the same teaching and learning aegis. We were a mono-culture, not a multi-culture, and we expected that each of our students would respond to a quality learning environment, regardless of race, religion, or national origin. Our expectations, values and modeled behaviors consistently hewed to that standard.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>As master practitioners, we also knew that each teacher would be expected, as a member of a cohesive team, to model and reinforce those scholarly "habits of mind" that would be the key to student success in each content area and level. </P> <P><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000><font face=arial>There could be no weak link in the chain; no inconsistency as to "what we were about, and what we cared about."</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Like our counterparts in other areas of the country, we teacher founders of Bellevue International believed that our children's schools needed to be re-dedicated to high academic standards; that our schools needed to bring an end to social promotion</FONT><FONT SIZE=3>; and that coherent curriculum and oustanding teacher instructional skill would be the essential ingredients for any small school's success.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Our vision was not about separating the gifted from those who were struggling.</P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>Instead we planted ourselves firmly within the arena of public education and proclaimed that all students can learn, and that all students can achieve.</P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>The key to our success: united staff commitment to a vision of what is important in school culture, and a curriculum design that targeted fundamental skills while pursuing essential questions that knit together all learning experiences for the students who journeyed forward with us. Student failure was simply not part of the design--by design.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>By the time we graduated our first class in 1997, our lottery waiting list had grown to several hundred students, </FONT><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#000000>and our state and national</FONT><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#FF0000> <A HREF="TestScores.htm" TARGET="_top">test scores</A> </FONT><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#000000>provided important proof that we were heading in the right direction.</FONT></STRONG></B></P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>As the last of the remaining original founders on the Bellevue International staff, I graduated with our first senior class (1997) and left Bellevue in order to help establish a new small learning community in the Lake Washington School District, Redmond, Washington.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>As parents requested, I designed Lake Washington International Community School to be a clone of Bellevue International. </P> <P><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000><font face=arial>As program developer, I had the opportunity to recruit our first two classes of 150 7th and 8th graders in a series of large public meetings advertising the school, hire the inaugural content area staff, and develop a 7-12 curriculum and program philosophy that extended and improved upon the original Bellevue model. </P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Lake Washington International is now entering its ninth year of operation, and racking up real-world achievements that have made it the leading public school program in Washington State.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>In 2003 I was called to the Marysville School District in order to develop and establish a new high performance small learning community: the Marysville Arts & Technology High School.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000><font face=arial>After five months of intensive program & site development work, I recruited 140 ninth and tenth grade families to enroll in this new small high school, which was located in a business park on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. </P> A&T will become a 9-12 program next year, with a total population of 230 students.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Because its gifted teachers have united in service to program vision and goals, Marysville Arts & Technology High School has already established a reputation for meaningful work, high student achievement, and strongly supportive, consistent school culture. </P> </FONT><P><FONT SIZE=3>Starting small learning communities: Bruce Saari states that the purpose of starting Bellevue International School was to put small learning communities to the test; to see, in establishing this successful small learning community, whether a new blending of traditional and visionary educational values could produce a public school where <U>scholarship, responsibility, and friendliness were the norm. How could such a small learning community fail?</U></FONT></STRONG></B></P> <P><B><FONT SIZE=3> Starting small learning communities: this was in the era before Charter Schools.   Bellevue International School, Lake Washington International Community School...But each of these pioneering teachers shared the belief that <U>basic changes to the</U> <U>system needed to occur</U> if the junior and senior high school experience was to be meaningfully transformed and renewed. Small learning communities where program consistency and teacher communication were at higher levels would be the key to raising student achievement. It was the structure and design of small learning communities that mattered--not merely their size. Small learning communities can be as unsuccessful as large public high schools.</FONT></STRONG></B></P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Starting successful small learning communities: Bellevue International School and Lake Washington International School: Models for starting small learning communities in Washington State. Academics for successful small learning communities. Bellevue International School & Lake Washington International Community School: Second order change in small learning communities. Converting high schools into small learning communities: models for small learning community development. Program philosophy and policies for small learning communities. High performance writing curriculum for charter schools. Education reform, essential curriculum and academic standards for new small learning communities. Mastery learning and performance based assessment in successful charter schools. The International School model for charter school development.They believed that our children's schools needed to be re-dedicated to high </FONT><U><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#008080>academic standards</FONT></U><FONT SIZE=3>; that our schools needed to bring an end to </FONT><U><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#008080>social promotion</FONT></U><FONT SIZE=3>; and that in order to make this rigor and promise accessible to all, each and every one of our schools had to offer a curriculum and a <U>quality of teaching</U> that not only challenged students to go beyond their present capabilities, but which also supported them in their efforts to get there,</FONT><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#008080> <U>provided that they were ready to make a commitment to their own education</U></FONT><FONT SIZE=3>.  Their vision was not about separating the gifted from those that were struggling; instead, they planted themselves firmly within the arena of public education and  proclaimed that all students can learn; and that all students can achieve.</FONT></STRONG></B></P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Like our counterparts in other areas of the country, we teacher founders of Bellevue International believed that our children's schools needed to be re-dedicated to high academic standards; that our schools needed to bring an end to social promotion</FONT><FONT SIZE=3>; and that coherent curriculum and oustanding teacher instructional skill would be the essential ingredients for any small school's success.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Our vision was not about separating the gifted from those who were struggling.</P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>Instead we planted ourselves firmly within the arena of public education and proclaimed that all students can learn, and that all students can achieve.</P> <P><font face=arial><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000>The key to our success: united staff commitment to a strong school culture, and a curriculum design that targeted fundamental skills while pursuing essential questions that knit together all learning experiences. </P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>By the time we graduated our first class in 1997, our lottery waiting list had grown to several hundred students, </FONT><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#000000>and our state and national</FONT><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#FF0000> <A HREF="TestScores.htm" TARGET="_top">test scores</A> </FONT><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#000000>indicated that we were heading in the right direction.</FONT></STRONG></B></P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>As the last of the remaining original founders on the Bellevue International staff, I graduated with our first senior class (1997) and left Bellevue in order to help parents establish a new small learning community in the Lake Washington School District, Redmond, Washington.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>As parents requested, I designed Lake Washington International Community School to be a clone of Bellevue International. </P> <P><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=000000><font face=arial>As program developer, I had the opportunity to recruit our first two classes of 150 7th and 8th graders, to hire the inaugural content area staff, and to develop a curriculum and program philosophy that extended and improved upon the original Bellevue model. For its first several years, ICS had no campus or building proper, but was instead housed in several portables located behind Redmond High School. Earl Wayman, Principal at Redmond, was instrumental in providing the assistance and expertise that would lead to a successful opening.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>Lake Washington International Community School is now entering its eleventh year of operation, and is a leading public school program in Washington State.</P> <P><FONT SIZE=3>In 2003 I went to the Marysville School District to develop yet another new small learning community: the Marysville Arts & Technology High School.</P> </FONT></STRONG></B></P></TD></TR> <TBODY> </TABLE> </DIV> <P></U><FONT SIZE=4 COLOR=#000000><A HREF="http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/04/3/1/18236022.cfm" TARGET="_top"><B><STRONG><FONT SIZE=4 COLOR=#0000FF>Marysville Arts & Technology High School:</FONT></STRONG><B></U><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#000000></U><B></A>     A New Small School in Marysville</FONT></STRONG></B></P></FONT></B> <B></U><FONT SIZE=4 COLOR=#0000FF></U><B><A HREF="http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/04/3/3/18276411.cfm" TARGET="_top">Editorial Opinion:</A></U></B></FONT><FONT SIZE=3 COLOR=#000000></U></B>  "Small Marysville School Offers Big Possibilities"</FONT></STRONG></B></A></P></FONT></P></B> <P><A HREF="InternationalModel.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Teachers Design High Powered Schools: Bellevue International School 1991, Lake Washington International School 1997, Marysville Arts & Technology 2003</U></FONT></B></A> <P><A HREF="Writing.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Mastery Learning Writing Curriculum for Student Achievement </U></FONT></B></A></U> <P><A HREF="StartUpFAQ.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>SLC Myths: Making it Better vs. Making it New</STRONG></B></A> </U> <P><A HREF="Retention.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Social Promotion...or Program Accountability?</U></FONT></B></A> <P><A HREF="Home.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Transform the Instructional Culture</FONT></STRONG></B></A> <P><A HREF="Articulated.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Thematic 9-12 Humanities & Literature Curriculum</U></FONT></STRONG></B></A> <P><A HREF="TestScores.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Test Scores</I></U></FONT></STRONG></B></A> <P><A HREF="Academics.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Essential Curriculum</FONT></B></A> </U> <P><A HREF="AdvancedPlacement.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Articulated Curriculum</FONT></STRONG></B></A> </U></FONT> <P><A HREF="Products.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Improving Instructional Effectiveness</FONT></B></A> <P><FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="BruceSaariCV.htm" TARGET="_top">Saari CV</A> </FONT></B></P> <P><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR=#000000>E mail address: saari@topschools.com</FONT></A></P> </BODY> <BODY>Successful small learning communities. 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Top rated charter schools. <P><A HREF="InternationalModel.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Teachers Design High Powered Schools: Bellevue International School 1991, Lake Washington International School 1997, Marysville Arts & Technology 2003</U></FONT></B></A> <P><A HREF="Writing.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Mastery Learning Writing Curriculum for Student Achievement </U></FONT></B></A></U> <P><A HREF="StartUpFAQ.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>SLC Myths: Making it Better vs. Making it New</STRONG></B></A> </U> <P><A HREF="Retention.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Social Promotion...or Program Accountability?</U></FONT></B></A> <P><A HREF="MiddleSchoolWriting.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=4><B>Middle School Writing Curriculum For Student Achievement</I></U></FONT></STRONG></B></A> <P><A HREF="Home.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Transform the Instructional Culture</FONT></STRONG></B></A> <P><A HREF="Articulated.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Thematic 9-12 Humanities & Literature Curriculum</U></FONT></STRONG></B></A> <P><A HREF="TestScores.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Test Scores</I></U></FONT></STRONG></B></A> <P><A HREF="Academics.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Essential Curriculum</FONT></B></A> </U> <P><A HREF="AdvancedPlacement.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Articulated Curriculum</FONT></STRONG></B></A> </U></FONT> <P><A HREF="Products.htm" TARGET="_top"><font face=papyrus><FONT SIZE=3><B>Improving Instructional Effectiveness</FONT></B></A> <P><FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="BruceSaariCV.htm" TARGET="_top">Saari CV</A> </FONT></B></P> <P><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR=#000000>E mail address: saari@topschools.com</FONT></A></P> </BODY>