High school teachers in two of Greater Cincinnati's largest districts got a look at their future this past week. Seventy-two teachers and principals from Cincinnati Public and West Clermont schools attended a three-day retreat at secluded Hueston Woods State Park near Oxford. The impressions they formed were mixed, ranging from daunted to reinvigorated.

        Some, including educators at Aiken and Western Hills high schools, were relieved to find that prospective reforms mirror those already taking place at their schools the past two years.

        The group learned how they will transform their schools — which have populations up to 1,755 students — into “smaller learning communities” of 300-600 students.

        “This is an exciting time to be in education,” said Western Hills High School Principal Tom Shaver. “They're holding our schools accountable, but giving us some tools to be accountable.”

        By fall 2002, most Cincinnati and West Clermont public high schools will be restructured to contain smaller

        student-teacher clusters within the large, comprehensive high schools.

        The goal is to reduce dropout rates as high as 65 percent in some CPS schools and improve achievement.

        “The entire process is a big challenge but it's also a rewarding one,” said Katie Hauer, a teacher at West Clermont's Glen Este High School. “This has a whole building talking about what's best for students to make them successful in the new millennium.”

        Large, troubled urban schools have used the small-school strategy for more than a decade to combat low achievement and the sense of detachment that can trigger high dropout rates.

        For the restructuring that will begin this fall, CPS and West Clermont are getting a combined total of more than $3.5 million from foundations and businesses.

        According to the U.S. Department of Education, about 70 percent of American high school students attend schools enrolling more than 1,000. Nearly 50 percent attend schools with more than 1,500 students.

        Under the smaller learning communities concept, educators divide schools into small autonomous sections within a building. Proponents say the clusters or “houses” allow students to become more familiar with staff on their teams and receive more personal attention.

        West Clermont officials hope to curb a high school dropout rate of about 15 percent, while CPS officials are hoping to recover some of the 49 percent who drop out.

        West High teacher Susan Cross said the smaller groups within the high school create a better atmosphere for learning.

        “It gives them a sense of be longing they didn't have when they were just a number in a big school,” she said.

        Taft High School will begin using the concept this fall, with the rest of CPS' five neighborhood schools to follow in the 2002-03 school year.

        Within each school, ninth and 10th grades will be divided into three “preparatory academies” of up to 100 students each. They'll be headed by a five-teacher team.

        Students will focus on basics: reading, writing and math. The schools will also contain a “senior institute,” where juniors and seniors will focus their learning. Taft High School, for example, will contain an information technology institute.

        West Clermont schools are also adopting the smaller learning communities concept in 2002-03. There, freshmen and sophomores will concentrate on core curricula, while juniors and seniors will fo cus on the student's area of interest.

        In some cases, school officials are still determining which areas of interest students will be able to pursue at each school.

        West Clermont educators have boiled the concentration areas down to nine, including two math/sciences academies, a performing arts academy and more. CPS is doing the same for several of the neighborhood schools, while Taft's technology institute will open this coming school year.

        But after hearing of examples — such as that of a high school focusing on environmental studies opening on the site of the Minnesota Zoological Gardens in 1995 — the educators see the possibilities.

        “The teachers are getting excited,” said Jim Rudy, president of the West Clermont Education Association teachers' union. “You can see there's going to be a rejuvenation.”

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