High School of Choice

From ninth to twelfth grade I attended a large, comprehensive, “neighborhood” school, but I also had no other option. My high school had about 1200 students and it was the only high school in my city. Eighth grade students looking at going to high school next year in Baltimore will have a variety of schools to choose from instead of being forced to go to their neighborhood school if their grades aren’t high enough for the entrance requirements of application schools. So why did Baltimore move away from the neighborhood high school model? According to City Schools CEO, Andres Alonso, “The goal is to have a portfolio of schools that provide different options to every student in the city. But every single one of them needs to be an effective option.” Check out the whole story at "More Choices for Baltimore 8th-Graders".

The comprehensive high schools in Baltimore just weren’t working. There were plenty of safety issues within the schools and teaching and learning were not effectively happening. Now large schools have been broken into smaller schools, many times still within the same building, but with different principals. There are four remaining that have seen declines in enrollment, but still have about 1000 students. Initially when I came to Baltimore I didn’t think that it was a good idea to still have these large schools in the city; they were the schools freshmen would attend because they couldn’t get in elsewhere. However, now things are changing.

Eighth grade students are now able to apply for any high school in the city. Except for the schools with entrance requirements, all others will do a lottery drawing if they have more applicants than available spots, including the four comprehensive high schools. This will hopefully allow eighth grade students to have some buy-in to their school, whatever the size of it. Yes, smaller high schools may not have as many extracurricular or elective options, but they can offer specialized curricula that when done well will allow students with particular interests and skills to get a head start in these fields before college. Students and their parents will now have the chance to decide what they are really looking for in a school, which will challenge schools to make sure they have something to attract new students as well as the effectiveness that Alonso is expecting to not be shut down.

Ultimately, it is all about our students learning. The city needs to continue to design and maintain schools that accomplish that goal. If our freshmen keep dropping out before graduation and our seniors keep graduating with an eighth grade education, changes need to continue to happen.