Oregon Small Schools Initiative

Nearly a decade ago, the small schools movement in Oregon was limited to small rural high schools and a sprinkling of charter and magnet schools that had sprung up across the state. Never in Oregon’s history had there been a statewide effort to intentionally create small high schools whose focus was meeting the needs of all of their students.

The Oregon Small Schools Initiative—the largest investment in high school reform in the state’s history—has produced a cohort of 34 small schools that is closing the achievement gap between minority and low-income students and their majority peers and changing the lives of the more than 25,000 students and 500 staff who have participated in this work.

In the past seven years the Oregon Small Schools Initiative has made an indelible mark on the landscape of education. An analysis by ECONorthwest revealed that student achievement levels are notably improved, often dramatically and especially so for historically disadvantaged students. ECONorthwest also concluded that the small schools model does not necessarily require a significantly greater investment per student than would a traditional high school serving the same students.

Read the full report: http://www.e3smallschools.org/