Judge Manning (the Leandro Guy) wants struggling high schools to literally “pick a theme” and immediately begin converting to smaller, redesigned high schools under the NC New Schools Project (NSP). NSP is Governor Easley’s darling.
Guilford County Schools is on board. Guilford Superintendent Terry Grier (who never found a state program that he didn’t like) has jumped at the chance to fund ($8 million at last count) and create a handful of new Learn and Earn schools and schools within a school. More are on the way. The state received a $10.4 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and legislators recently approved a $14 million appropriation for high school reform. Governor Easley wants 75 redesigned high schools in place by 2008.
News & Record reporter Jennifer Fernandez is asking the right question, “…will smaller schools lead to better schools?” Independent evaluations of small, redesigned Gates schools show that small school size does not guarantee student success. Results were mixed, at best, with some schools making improvements and others on the brink of collapse. This does not phase Easley, Manning, and Grier, who rely on the belief that “smaller is better” to gain the approval for their experiments.
