By Jeffrey A. Liles, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Education
Adolescence Education Department
Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. School of Education, St. John Fisher College

"What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children." John Dewey 

Not long ago I attended a conference session entitled “How Can Theory Help Transform Urban Schools?” After much discussion, a woman asked this question, “It seems we know enough about the things that work in schools, why don’t we just start doing them?” The subtext of her question is that there are far too few schools that consistently employ practices that support and enhance student learning. Rochester can be proud that it is home to the School Without Walls, a school where they do things that work; a school where students experience an environment that fosters academic success as well as personal development

School Without Walls (SWW) is a small school with a diverse student population. While some researchers debate the precise impact of small schools and diversity on learning, the fact is that both are important. Smaller numbers of students allow teachers to plan lessons and provide services around individuals and avoid the all too common “one size fits all” model of education. It is much less likely that students remain anonymous or “fall through the cracks” at SWW; every student has an individualized plan of instruction and an adviser who monitors and consistently supports that student’s progress. The diversity of the students provides a rich collection of experiences, attitudes, values and perspectives. Students learn to respect others as well as themselves.

The staff at SWW has high expectations for all students. Traditional grading systems are not used, but students are expected to perform at high levels and are held accountable for their learning. Recently, I took a group of my students from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. School of Education at St. John Fisher College to visit SWW. Upon learning the school does not use traditional grading methods, they could not understand how learning could occur or how teachers could even get students to cooperate with them. A SWW student explained that in a traditional grading system, he could miss or fail an assignment or two and still get an “A” or “B” in a class. In his writing class at SWW, however, he had a contract for a set number of assignments to be completed at a clearly articulated quality level. If he completed all but one of his assignments, he would not get credit for the class. My students agreed that there was a higher standard and expectation at SWW than there had been at their respective schools.

Students have responsibility and ownership for their own learning.This is important because it fosters intrinsic motivation in students. Intrinsic motivation has a stronger connection to meaningful learning than extrinsic motivation in the form of grades and standardized tests. To graduate from SWW, each student must propose and complete a senior project. The first two questions they must answer are “What do you want to learn?” and “How will you learn it?” While supported by teachers and members of the community, students are responsible for constructing the learning experience, “doing” the learning, and demonstrating what they learned in a final product and presentation. This responsibility and ownership is built upon a firm foundation of trust and respect for students. SWW willfully creates a learning environment that allows students to make many of their own decisions about learning.

Education is a community activity. Members of the community work directly with students on their learning portfolios, collections of work that demonstrate students’ mastery of knowledge and skills. The portfolio program is premised on the idea that standardized instruction and testing are not the best determinants of academic or human excellence. More importantly, students benefit from the experience and expertise provided by community members and they learn that the community is invested in their education.

Finally, how do we know these things work? You can see the success at SWW in the focus and substance of the classroom discussions, in the relationships between teachers and students, and in the commitment, creativity, and efforts of the staff. If you’ve never taken the opportunity to see this for yourself, here are a few facts provided by the Rochester City School District:

• More than 85% of SWW graduates have gone on to college.
• SWW continues to maintain one of the District's highest attendance rates and lowest suspension rates.
• SWW has demonstrated one of the highest success rates with students classified as "at-risk-of-failure" in other schools.

Rochester’s School without Walls is doing many of the things “that work.” It is the kind of school we should all want for all of the children in our communities.  

 
Jeffrey Liles is an active partner with School Without Walls, serving as a portfolio reviewer of student work and a supervisor of student teachers from St. John Fisher at the school, in addition to other activities.