Pilot schools, Boston, USA: International Focus
Derren Hayes
Monday, July 29, 2019
Pilot schools are small education settings that specialise in developing a personalised approach to learning.
The approach was created 25 years ago in Boston, Massachusetts - the result of a partnership between then city mayor Thomas Menino, Boston Public Schools (BPS) and the Boston Teachers Union. They were created to be models of educational innovation and to serve as research and development sites for effective urban public schools.
In a bid to tackle persistently poor educational outcomes for children in urban districts of Boston, policymakers decided to give teachers more autonomy over how the schools were run and organised. This led to the large inner city schools being split into smaller units while remaining part of a wider learning network, which encompassed schools, local employers and the community.
The approach was praised in the 2009 book Urban Village Schools for how it helped improve the quality of relationships between teachers and students, which in turn saw the education become more child-centred. In the US, other cities have now adopted the approach after evaluation found it improved academic results and reduced exclusions.
SCHOOL CULTURE
Pilot schools are granted autonomy over five key areas:
- Staffing - the ability to hire and increase staff in order to create a unified school community.
- Budget - discretion to spend in the manner that provides the best programmes and services to students and families.
- Curriculum and Assessment - freedom to structure curriculum and assessment practices to best meet students' learning needs. Pilot schools administer state and district required tests, but with the flexibility to determine the school-based curriculum and assessment practices that will prepare students for these assessments.
- Governance and policies - pilot schools have their own governance structure and decide principal evaluation and selection.
- School calendar - the freedom to set longer school days and terms.
Other key freedoms pilot schools enjoy include exempting teachers from union-contract work rules, while still receiving union salary and benefits. Teachers sign an "election-to-work agreement", which stipulates the work conditions for the school for the coming year. This is revised annually with teacher input.
Pilot schools' governing boards have greater authority than traditional school councils. The board sets the school's vision, employs and annually evaluates the principal, and approves the yearly budget. They include parent representatives, community members (from higher education, business, and community agencies) and students.
Their small size means pilot schools can provide greater personal support for every student, collaboration among faculty members and high academic challenge. They have the same per pupil budget as district schools, but the 55 students per teacher is lower than the district average.
Also, pilot schools do not rely on course completion as the sole measure for graduation: students graduate when they can demonstrate mastery over a set of competencies, through portfolio reviews and exhibitions.
The success of pilot high schools contributed to four of the district's large high schools being converted into facilities housing multiple small schools. Similarly, the pilot approach to curriculum and performance assessment was one influence in shaping a new district graduation policy that enables any high school to propose a unique course sequence and assessment for graduation, as long as these equal or exceed the district's standards.
Not-for-profit organisation the Center for Collaborative Education provides pilot schools with support including coaching, professional development, advocacy and research.
FACTFILE
- A deal between state education bodies and teaching unions saw five pilot schools created in Boston in 1994
- Pilot schools have fewer pupils and teach children in class sizes of no more than 20
- Education is practical, with greater emphasis on independent and project based learning
- There is more flexibility over the structure of the school day
- Close links with the community means pilot schools can offer vocational work placements and have local people volunteer
- Pilot schools perform above average for academic attainment and pupil engagement
LEGISLATION AND POLICY
Boston Public Schools designed pilot schools to retain teachers and students after the Massachusetts legislature passed a state chartering law in 1993. Under the pilot agreement, the BPS Superintendent delegates authority to pilot schools' governing boards to try different means of improving teaching and learning to better serve at-risk urban students.
The potential exists for the boards to informally transfer that decision-making authority to the group of teachers at the school. Some boards have done this.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 resulted in greater centralisation of federally mandated practices, more frequent testing and increased turnover among new teachers coming into the profession. This made the freedoms offered by pilot schools even more appealing and led to their development in other states.
Dan French, executive director of the Center for Collaborative Education, said that while on the face of it the reforms led to rising test scores, the pool of students who were succeeding was shrinking - and that those hurt were disproportionately low-income students.
"The Boston pilot model is a different approach to improving urban public education, with schools granted control over their resources in exchange for increased accountability," wrote French. "It has proved to be an effective strategy."
PRACTICE
Pilot schools operate across elementary and high schools in Boston. At Baldwin Early Learning Center in the district of Brighton, 200 pupils are grouped into classes of between 16 and 20. Academic lessons run from 7am to 12.30pm, with the afternoon given over to learning about the arts, music, drama and IT.
The school is open until 5pm, offering free wraparound care before and after lessons.
Each class has a qualified teacher who works from 6am to 1.30pm, with the first hour used for planning and the last hour - 12.30-1.30 - for meetings, research and training. In the afternoon, classroom assistants take the lead supported by auxiliary staff - often retirees, parents or students. Parents can collect children from 12.30, although this rarely happens.
Boston Public Schools provide a centralised specialist support team to assess children who teachers are concerned about, but the school also employs its own nurse, therapists and social worker.
Dee Harvey, a teacher from Luton who visited the school as part of a travelling fellowship, observed that the classroom culture was one that encouraged children to work more independently than in many UK schools.
Harvey visited another similar sized elementary pilot school which had cross-curricula school-wide subjects. These were project-based, active and collaborative learning with emphasis on creative arts. Younger children tended to learn through play, while older ones experimented with arts and crafts.
The Mission Hill School prides itself on its links with the local community, including an organic dairy farm, which involves pupils in all aspects of farming from animal care to harvesting. Students aged 13 and 14 also undertake internships at one of 120 local sites - one day a week for 12 weeks, with a presentation at the end of it.
In her paper, Harvey said the key difference between both schools and UK primaries is the "enviable" small class sizes and curriculum flexibility, while the "amount of community involvement and goodwill was impressive".
Harvey also visited Fenway High School, which works with students who have struggled with learning. Many are from ethnic minority communities and low-income families. The school aims to develop future community leaders and foster social cohesion as a counter to gang culture.
There are 290 students divided into three houses. They are taught by the same teacher for three years and there is no streaming by ability. Adult teaching mentors get to know the students and families well. Staff work in teams and teach all subjects; most have special educational needs qualifications.
OUTCOMES
Studies have shown that pilot schools outperform the district average on almost every indicator of student engagement and achievement. This is attributed to the smaller class sizes, fewer pupils per teacher, longer class periods which support more hands-on and project-based learning, more time for lesson planning and review, and strong links with the community.
From an original five schools enrolling about 900 students, the total has grown to 17 Boston pilot schools and two Horace Mann charter schools serving around 5,900 students, about 10 per cent of the district's total enrolment.
In 2007, the United Teachers of Los Angeles and the surrounding community launched the Belmont Zone of Choice, modelled on Boston pilot schools. After initial success, the number of schools expanded in 2009 and there are now 18 zones that house small school options for students, including 50 pilot schools.
EXPERT VIEW
Small-scale schools will be the model for the future
By Mervyn Benford, information officer, National Association of Small Schools (NASS)
UK small schools have fewer than 100 pupils and inspectors praise the oversight of standards achieved. Small schools reflect no specific policy and endure constant closure pressure to create larger schools. The majority - now just nine per cent of the total school estate - remain rural, although NASS also serves nursery schools wherever located.
Small size invariably obliges mixed age and ability working, but with the same national curriculum. Abundant evidence of high educational quality has emerged from national testing and inspection.
We do not welcome academy schools that do have some such freedoms. The academy concept is a threat as both church and state try to sweep up small schools into multi-academy trusts.
Small-school parents love their schools which represent the two resources consistently exposed by research as guaranteeing ultimate outcomes - for better or worse - home background and quality of teaching. Both are lotteries. Inspection reports across the UK show small schools consistently effective in having parents and teachers on the same wavelengths. As a result, children feel safe and secure, that effort is worthwhile and achievement possible.
Small schools have been consistently recognised for the rich partnerships also possible with local communities. Twenty years ago, NASS proposed small schools for urban areas for all these reasons, but also because the marginal additional investment can be shown by long-term, sophisticated, economic analysis to deliver profit to the Exchequer. It reduces costs of failure and disaffection, enhancing outcomes that lead to better jobs and higher tax revenues.
We have seen pre-school provision in Swedish urban areas built on exactly this small, human-scale concept. We believe it is the vital model for life and living in the future.