Atlanta Public Schools (APS) announced plans to ensure all students receive a high-quality education that prepares them for the challenges of today’s global economy. They will transform all of its large, traditional high schools into small schools or small learning communities over the next five years. They plan to create a culture of high expectations and high achievement for all students.

“We are headed in the right direction, particularly with the strong support of our community and a firm belief that every student in every school can reach their full potential in learning environments that challenge and support them,” said APS Superintendent Dr. Beverly L. Hall.

The first two schools to initiate their chznges will open in the fall of 2007. Each will consist of four small theme-based schools that emphasize a personalized and academically rigorous learning environment.

The school district’s newly created Office of High School Redesign will work in close partnership with the Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) to implement changes at two high schools. ISA is a national leader that assists school districts in changing large underperforming high schools into academically rigorous and personalized small learning communities that improve academic performance, raise graduation rates and cultivate a college-going culture.

The district’s vision is that by the end of the 2007-08 school year, Atlanta Public Schools will be one of the nation’s highest performing urban school district with 100 percent of schools meeting or exceeding 70 percent of their annual growth targets.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested $10.5 million in this APS initiative. To date, the foundation has invested more than $1.7 billion to improve high schools, supporting more than 1,800 schools in 47 states and the District of Columbia.

Q: I haven't read the proposal. What places do mobile PCs have in changes planned for teaching and learning at APS?

Kudos, APS. Congratulations APS students for serving as experimental subjects in this grand social experiment calling for school system wide changes. I wonder if parents of all students have signed off for their children to participate as human subjects in this experiment?

Thanks, Gates Foundation, for helping to underwrite this APS initiative.

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