September/October 2006

"R" is for Resilience

Schools turn to “asset development” to build on students’ strengths

by Nancy Walser

Imagine a teenager as a balloon. One minute it’s soaring; the next it’s floating toward the ground, heading for a crash. But suppose there’s an adult standing nearby who is willing to reach out and give it a gentle bop to send it soaring again? Better yet, what if there are five adults standing in a circle holding a thick web made of yarn? The tighter the web, the less likely the balloon can slip through and hit the ground.

This web-of-yarn exercise was invented by Derek Peterson, an educational consultant and one-man crusader who travels the globe preaching the benefits of youth development to teachers, administrators, school board members, and community leaders. The web—he likens it to a Lakota “dreamcatcher”—is meant to demonstrate the impact of adult intervention in supporting resilience among teens.

The rest of this article can be found in the current issue of the Harvard Education Letter. Buy this issue.

Beyond Bargaining

What does it take for school district-union collaboration to succeed?

by Mitch Bogen

Last spring, teachers in San Francisco and Oakland threatened their first strike since 1979. In Detroit, 1,500 teachers in more than 50 schools participated in an unofficial “sickout” over salary issues. In a climate of financial constraint and escalating pressure to meet the federal mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), tensions between school district management and teachers unions appear to be rising nationwide.

But at the same time, in districts across the country, these traditional foes have been working together to implement collaborative reforms. From merit pay systems to peer review programs, innovations designed to improve the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms have been introduced into today’s collective bargaining agreements.

The rest of this article can be found in the current issue of the Harvard Education Letter. Buy this issue.

In Praise of the Comprehensive High School

We can learn from what small schools do well—but there are things big schools can do better

As an administrator in a large, comprehensive high school, I am often asked when—not if—we plan to break the school down into a number of small schools. Wouldn’t forming small schools help us to close the gap in achievement between our white students and our African American and Latino students? I’ve come to the conclusion that forming many small schools is not the primary answer to the challenges faced by Evanston Township High School (ETHS). But I think there’s a lot that schools like ETHS can learn from small schools.

Located in a multiracial suburb of Chicago, ETHS serves 3200 students. The student body is 48 percent white, 39 percent African American, 10 percent Latino, and 2 percent Asian. About a third of the students are low-income. The school is part of the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN), a coalition of 25 multiracial, relatively affluent urban-suburban school districts across the nation that seek to ensure high academic achievement for students of color. Our commitment to narrowing the achievement gap requires us to pay careful attention to the research coming out of small schools. Nonetheless, my MSAN colleagues and I agree that dismantling schools like ours is not the place to start.

The rest of this article can be found in the current issue of the Harvard Education Letter. Buy this issue.

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