Small Learning Community (SLC) Continuum

Small Learning Community (SLC) Continuum Separate Comprehensive Schools High School Within a Low High Building Personalization Personalization

Organization: Organization: Organization: Organization: (level of separateness) (level of separateness) (level of separateness) (level of separateness)  No SLCs, but advisory or block  SLCs encompass only 1 or 2  SLCs encompass 2 to 4 grades  SLCs encompass all 4 grades scheduling may be used to grades  Students take a majority of their  Students take all of their classes in personalize students’ experiences  Some students take some of their classes in an SLC, but take some an SLC, and classes do not include  Students take classes with mixed classes in an SLC, and SLC non-SLC classes non-SLC students groups of students from classes may include a few non-  Teachers teach most of their  Teachers teach all of their classes in throughout the large high school SLC students classes in an SLC, but also teach a an SLC  Teachers teach mixed groups of  Some teachers teach some of their few non-SLC classes  Teachers do collaborative planning students from throughout the large classes in an SLC  Teachers generally have some and professional development with high school  Most professional development time for collaborative planning their SLC team  Teachers’ professional for teachers is school-wide rather and professional development  SLC’s physical space is dedicated development is school-wide or than organized by SLC with the SLC team and contiguous; shared space is organized by departments  SLC’s physical space is generally  SLC’s physical space is managed by building council  Physical space is not sub-divided not dedicated or contiguous contiguous, but generally not dedicated only to the SLC

Governance: Governance: Governance: Governance: (level of autonomy) (level of autonomy) (level of autonomy) (level of autonomy)  Large school is governed as one  SLCs do not have formal  SLC coordinator has some  SLC is self-governing with its own unit, under supervision of the governance authority authority, and reports to the leadership (principal or teacher- principal  SLC staff has limited control over school’s principal director)  Academic departments generally program design and curriculum  SLC staff has some control over  SLC staff controls program design have some limited authority over  Staff are generally assigned to the program design and curriculum and curriculum curriculum, budget, etc. SLC  SLC staff has some role in hiring  SLC staff hires, evaluates, and  Schedule is determined by the  SLC staff controls schedule for supports new staff larger school SLC classes, in the context of the  SLC staff creates schedule  Budget is determined by the larger larger school’s schedule  SLC staff creates budget school  SLC staff has some role in determining budget

This continuum is adapted from the work of Mary Ann Raywid (1996), Jacqueline Ancess & CeCe Cunningham (2001), and Victoria Bergsagel (2003). It is intended to represent the range of strategies in the field; there are many small learning communities that do not fit neatly into any of these categories.

School Redesign Network at Stanford University 2003 School Redesign Network at Stanford University 2003