Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education
Falling enrollments and gloomy economics point to the inevitable: Many school districts in California will close schools over the next decade. So far, they have been mainly elementary and middle schools, but high schools, spared until now, won’t escape, a newly released study by a national research and consulting organization concluded.
Rather than view closures solely as retrenchment and loss, the authors view “this period of fiscal transition” as an opportunity for districts to redesign high schools that are more engaging for students.
“This is sorely needed,” wrote researchers Paul Beach and Carrie Hahnel of Bellwether Education Partners, a national nonprofit research and consulting firm. “Educators, policymakers, and researchers increasingly agree: The structure of high school must change.”
High school students won’t dispute that….
