Smaller highschools proposed

The Philadelphia School District is going to try subdividing troubled highschools, in hopes that the more intimate-sized institutions will have more success. This will mean opening a large number of new schools in the next three years, so lots of planning is underway.

By 2008, the district should have 66 high schools, up from 38 in 2002 when Vallas arrived. More than half of the schools will have 400 students or fewer, Vallas said. Less than a quarter of the schools will enroll more than 1,000 students.

The Philadelphia Education Fund, a nonprofit group that has researched the issue, said smaller neighborhood high schools in urban areas show better test scores, less violence, higher college-going rates, and more satisfied staffs and students.

A bold step; clearly something needs to be done, since school quality is an area where the city could very much use to improve its image.