1. Do
you consider your school an alternative school?
___X__ Yes
_____No
If your answer is Yes, please explain why, and please indicate specifically what makes your school different from “regular” schools.
The community of Salmon Bay School considers our
school to be “alternative” because of our….
A.
Strong commitment to the community concept and the intentional
relationship building between students and adults and students themselves. We realize this goal by:
1)
Including parent/guardians as partners in education. Parents are trained as volunteers and used
to decrease the number of students per adult in the classrooms. In addition, families play an active role in
school-wide activities, field trips and school governance.
2)
Implementing a “multi-age” model, whereas children have the same
teacher(s) for two consecutive years.
This multi-age concept is prevalent in both of our elementary and middle
school programs.
3)
Keeping our school small. With
only 240 elementary students and 360 middle school students, we can be
confident that every child and her/his family is known by staff on a personal
level.
4)
Incorporating a school-wide focus on service learning. Specifically, our middle school students
spend five days per year engaged in service learning opportunities around the
city. Every 8th grader
completes a comprehensive 8th grade exit project that has a direct
connection to subject-related service learning.
5)
Holding class meetings where student voice is honored and staff have
structured opportunities to bond with children.
6) Implementing an outdoor
education program where kids have an opportunity to experience learning outside
of the school building. Students attend
different camps that provide them opportunities to strengthen relationships and
participate in self-esteem building activities.
B.
Approach to teaching and learning.
More specifically, the implementation of a “student-centered” learning
environment, K-8. We realize this goal
by:
1)
Organizing classrooms where children are grouped in ways that they can
learn in a cooperative, hands-on and project-based manner. Instead of desks in rows, we use project
centers, table groupings, or Socratic seminar arrangements.
2)
Planning lessons that are inquiry-based, relevant to the child’s world,
and planned so that kids experience learning, rather than the teacher simply
sharing knowledge.
3)
Organizing children in heterogeneous groupings. We do not track students by “ability level”
into “honors” and “regular” classes.
4)
Offering classes that teach skills and concepts with an integrated
curricular focus. At the middle school
level, our “unit” classes are a blend of subject matter, rather than the
traditional separated history class and language arts class model.
*We recognize that much of
this list could be considered merely a compilation of best practices, but we
feel our uniqueness is derived in the fact that these philosophical educational
practices have been incorporated into our school (school-wide) for the last ten
years.
C.
School structure that attempts to meet the developmental needs of
children
as they mature. We realize this goal by:
1)
Allowing children and adults the opportunities to create positive
relationships that for some students will last for nine years (K through 8).
2)
Providing a structure that allows students to “reinvent” themselves as
they transition from 5th to 6th grade as the number of
students per grade triples from elementary to middle school grades.
3)
Welcoming at least 80 new 6th graders to our school per year
from neighborhoods across the city.
4)
Offering middle school students a full (team-based,
exploratory-enriched and activity-filled) middle school experience with the
smallest possible number of middle school students (360).
*As far as structure, we
feel that this model provides the benefits of both a K-8 and separate
elementary and middle school experiences.
We are the only school in our district with this unique arrangement.
2. Following is a draft of a written overview of
the alternative label discussions. Is there anything you believe should be
changed or revised in the written overview? No
Discussions are currently being held around the
subject of the alternative school label. Although some students and parents
value this label, it has negative connotations to others. In addition, the term
“alternative” can be confusing, particularly in a high achieving environment in
which all students are expected to achieve to high standards. In Seattle Public
Schools, each school is charged with creating a unique program to support the
needs of students and parents – which means that every school is an alternative
to another school.
Traditionally, alternative schools have been
characterized by factors such as individual attention, smaller class sizes,
multi-age grouping, integrated curriculum, project-based learning, a
family-like environment, and parental involvement both in and out of the
classroom. In addition, alternative schools have historically demonstrated high
levels of interaction and cooperation among students and teachers, fluid roles
for teachers, and school governance which emphasizes the role of student
decision making. In alternative schools, there has been a focus on individual
student achievement rather than on competition among students. Over time, more
schools in Seattle Public Schools have begun to incorporate many of these
characteristics, which has blurred the historical distinction between
alternative and regular schools. We
are now seeking to clarify the definition of alternative schools and to
understand what differentiates them from regular schools.
3. If the alternative
label were eliminated, what do you believe would be the impact on your school?
How do you believe this impact could be mitigated?
Several potential impacts could be
profound at our school. Most obvious
are the potential shifts in student assignment and budgetary policies. We hope these could be mitigated through
careful planning and public engagement.
We feel VERY strongly that our current student assignment plans need to
be continued for reasons that we feel reflect both the core values of our
school and school district. We would be
happy to explain this further.
4. In your view, what are the characteristics
of an alternative school?
At
our school, the characteristics of an alternative school are those listed in
the answer to question #1.
5. Other comments:
We look forward to the opportunity to expand on
these answers through the public engagement process.
Thank
you for taking the time to respond to this survey. Please email your response
to Nan Stavnshoj by October 11, 2002.