A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Impact

The impact of the SS on staff and students has been great. Further, at least some participating businesses and social agencies report changes as a result of their work with the SS. The community in general, however, has been unaffected by the partnership. Each of these groups will be discussed in turn in the following section.

Educational Staff

The SS's educational staff members have opportunities to work with students in fairly unconventional ways. At the SS, teachers enjoy a certain amount of autonomy in structure and content of their courses, and are free to alter them as they see fit. As one staff member put it:

I really like the direction this school is taking. I like the freedom. I like being able to see this isn't working and change it much faster here than you could within a larger system. Change is so much slower for a good reason with that many people [as in the regular high schools].

Staff members also meet regularly both formally and informally to plan and discuss students, events and activities, and curricula. Teachers know what other teachers are working on in their classes; thus, there is a high degree of articulation across courses. Because of the small number of students in the school, teachers also are much more aware of each student's individual growth and progress, both academic and personal. Another staff member said:

Staff members try to meet at least three times a week. With a small staff, that's possible. We have a month to plan together before the kids are even here. Some weeks, we meet every day to keep everyone informed of what's going on.

This esprit de corps among the staff in the project builds a cohesive team that works together toward a commonly shared vision. In regular schools, visions and goals are much less apparent and often are not shared by all. This can result in fragmented activities with individuals working toward individual goals. The high degree of cooperation among project staff supports the SS's goals and objectives, and undoubtedly has had a direct impact on its success.

Students

Most SS students very likely would never have returned to any school were it not for the project. The SS has had much success in motivating students to go on to community colleges, four-year colleges, and universities. Twelve students, after completing their graduation requirements at the SS or returning to a regular high school to graduate, have continued their education at various institutions of higher education, a noteworthy accomplishment considering these students had not been enrolled in any school for at least six months prior to enrolling in the SS. Several students we spoke with had been out of school for two to three years.

Most students who enrolled in the SS did not complete their graduation requirements at the storefront. A few returned to regular high schools. Other students exited the SS for a variety of reasons including pregnancy, employment, running away, and personal problems. The program's policy does, however, consider the difficult circumstances under which these students live, and if students find they are unable to assume responsibility for their commitment to the project, they may withdraw and return when they are again ready. The number of times a student may reenter the SS is unclear and as far as we know, there is no policy in place that addresses this issue. Some students have left and returned as many as four times.

Since April 1992, 16 students have received their state-approved high school diplomas, 23 received their GEDs, and 14 returned to a regular high school program. Five SS graduates have gone on to institutions of higher education and 7 have gone on to trade schools.

The project also had an impact on the number of credits students earned. The majority of SS students for whom data were available had earned 2.5 or fewer credits in the year prior to SS enrollment, though some had earned from 2.75 to 6.25 credits. After enrollment at the SS, the number or credits earned by these students increased. A quarter of the students earned 6.5 credits or more (none of them had earned this many credits in the year prior to enrollment at the SS). Overall, students were earning more credits at the SS than they had at their last school of enrollment.

In a survey administered by the district's evaluation department, participating students were asked about their attitudes toward the project. All students responded that they liked the project. All but one student believed that what they were learning at the SS would help them to be successful in the future. In addition, all respondents agreed that the SS made it easier for them to stay in school and that they liked the way they were treated in the project.

Participating Organizations

The impact on participating organizations varied according to the extent to which they became actively involved in the partnership at the governance, planning, or activity level. It was clear that the SS had less impact on the organizations than vice versa. This is not to say that the partners were not affected by their involvement with the project but more a commentary on the difficulty businesses have making real changes when getting involved with schools.

For businesses that previously had worked with the school system, the SS had little impact on their operations. The human resources department of one of the larger companies in the area had a history of conducting job employability skills training. When the SS requested the company's help in this area, it was very willing to offer these services. This, however, did not alter the way this large company operated. Although the large company did not hire students, a smaller company has put a policy in place to give SS students priority for hiring.

Business partners also can learn about opportunities for educational involvement from the partnership. One of the primary business partners, a large franchise, became actively involved in the partnership after the partnership project director inquired about the opportunities the national franchisers offered for sponsorship of academies. Contacts at the local chain did not know about this opportunity. When they called the national headquarters, they received the information and became enthusiastic about the idea. The local franchise has been a strong advocate ever since. Involvement in the partnership led the company to explore opportunities for involvement in education they did not know even existed. Thus, the partnership had a considerable impact on the organization.

The partnership had less impact on the health department because of the department's previous work at the school level. One great difference was the inclusion of the department on the partnership board. As part of the governing body, the health department had input on issues it might not ordinarily have been privy to in a regular school/health department relationship. From the beginning of their involvement with the partnership, representatives from the health department were very enthusiastic about developing the SS into a comprehensive project that would address not only students' academic needs but also their health needs. Unfortunately, when health department contacts explored the possibility of setting up a health clinic in the school, they quickly came up against school district/community politics. The fear that the health clinic might touch upon controversial topics such as abortion, birth control, and HIV education impeded progress toward establishing the clinic on school premises. One individual we spoke with stated:

When I see [the health department] coming on, I would like to see them have an office right here [at the school]. I'd like to see someone here full time....Our school districts wouldn't dare give a kid a condom, but they'll entertain the idea of providing child care. It amazes me. Kids are walking around with diseases that are going to kill them before they are even sure of how they got the disease. You are not going to solve that problem by sticking a bag over your head and ignoring that the problem is there.

The youth shelter, which started with representation on the board and then lost it when its executive director changed positions, was affected by the partnership in that the services it provided could be used by its clientele. Because the shelter deals mainly with transient youth, it found it very difficult to find appropriate means to get these young people back into a school environment, even into the alternative schools. The storefront's proximity to the shelter and the more independent, nontraditional school environment made it an ideal setting for the population it served. Thus, the SS filled a gap in the system. There were now activities in place to which shelter clientele could be referred. However, there was no impact on the shelter's policies and practices.

The Community

The community at large was not greatly affected by the partnership. For those directly involved, the impact of the SS on participating students was perceived as well worth the partners' efforts. The project itself has not received a lot of notoriety, partly because the board of directors wanted to be able to report concrete positive student outcomes before going out into the community with the "good" news. As the SS develops and more and more successes are noted, the partnership is sure to gain attention from the media, if those at the governance level make this goal a priority.

The SS could decrease the number of dropout youth who fall outside of the system and steer them in the direction of becoming productive individuals. The project already has demonstrated that it can do this. Sixteen project participants have received state-approved high school diplomas and of these, five have gone on to institutions of higher education and seven for further technical training. One partner believed that the SS should be more active in informing the community about its success:

You have to be organized enough to have a strategic plan and have goals, objectives, document your successes, let them know what's been happening, who you have been recognized by [e.g., Chamber of Commerce best and most worthwhile program award], what you model after, what's going on nationally, or why this kind of a program [works] and what it can do for the city.

Institutionalization

The SS has been fully institutionalized. The school district has pledged continuing support to the educational program, including paying for the teachers and continuing to seek funds that can provide the necessary supplementary services. Similarly , the health department plans to continue to provide health related services as well as information about child care to SS students. Perhaps more notable, given the fact that members of the board of directors are unclear about their roles, is that the partnership structure also is institutionalized. Although other EPP projects created 501(c)3 not-for-profit organizations that are fairly inactive, the one created for the SS seems committed to finding a permanent role in the school and the community.

The following section begins with a discussion of the institutionalization of the partnership structure and then moves to an analysis of the institutionalization of the SS.

Partnership

The partnership as an entity has been institutionalized by gaining 501(c) (3) status as a not-for-profit organization. The principal serves as executive director and there is a board of directors, all of whom are dedicated to keeping the SS going. The board, as it matures, has the potential to continue seeking additional funding sources to expand the project and obtain new materials. But as one administrator stated:

What we find is the private sector here in town is really willing to do a lot of in- kind things. That hard cash is hard to come by. We can get in-kind donations. For graduation, we've got one company coming in giving us free drinks, another is donating door prizes, [a service club] is donating the facility. We're paying for the food, but we're getting a deal. The community has been wonderful in working on the in-kind contributions. But we do have some needs for the hard cash for equipment, technology, and software upgrading.

When the term of EPP funding ended, all salaries were paid by the district. Thus, staff salaries are covered and overhead costs are subsidized by partners. Institutionalization in terms of maintaining the project as it now stands is complete. However, the principal and the board are not satisfied with mere maintenance. The principal has a plan of action to expand the project and sees a definite need to replicate it in other areas of the city. She is convinced that another location would be filled to capacity immediately. Added features such as child care, a full-time job coordinator position, the full-time presence of health and social services, and expanded curricula with more hands-on activities are included in the principal's expansion agenda.

Project Activities

Institutionalization of activities has occurred in that the school district perceives the SS as a viable educational alternative for youth who have left school. The rules and regulations for students demand a degree of self-discipline, but allow enough leeway for students to feel they are in a comfortable and nonthreatening environment.

There are, however, concerns regarding the overall curriculum, especially the computer software used by the students to advance from level to level in language arts and mathematics. Questions have been raised as to whether the software is rigorous enough to prepare students who eventually may wish to reenter a oregularo school. In addition, students are given credit solely for the number of hours they engage in these self-paced computer learning activities. Project staff monitor their progress only to the extent that the students advance from level to level at a satisfactory rate. Are these activities preparing students sufficiently for the demands of employers or institutions of higher education? At this point, this question is being raised by the school's administrator. No action has yet been taken on this issue as far as we know.

The employability skills training, offered throughout the year, continues to be conducted by one of the business partners through its human resources department. There is no sign that this activity will be decreased. The training is perceived by both students and staff as beneficial to students' futures.

The SS has been institutionalized at the district level with most staff salaries being paid by the district and student diplomas being issued through an agreement with an accredited high school in the district.

Conclusion

The success of the SS is due in part to the common vision shared by all partners and their participation or support for activities designed to achieve it. All remain dedicated to creating an educational setting in which dropout youth could complete their high school graduation requirements or be supported in returning to a regular high school program. The school district, business partners, and community agencies all agreed that some youth were falling through holes in the safety net already available in the district. The project was based on the needs of these students.

The district already had several programs seen as oalternativeso for students who were having difficulty in a regular school environment. The district already had showed a commitment to serving all students in a variety of ways, which paved the way for the SS because it was perceived as being able to fill some of the holes in the system.

The inclusion of prominent members of the business community from the beginning of the project gave it the boost it needed both financially and politically. The institutionalization of the project was aided further by being recognized as a part of the national community-based program. The financial support it received as a result should not be ignored.

The SS has made a definite impact on the school district. Its location is in itself an innovation. The school itself, although it may undergo changes in terms of curriculum and instruction, most likely will continue under the auspices of both the district (which pays most of the staff salaries) and the business partners. It has found a unique niche and meets the needs of a group of youth who otherwise would have no alternatives that would offer them the extra attention and motivation to keep them in school. In that respect, the school has made an enduring change in the system. One administrator agreed, saying:

Lots of districts, including ours, have programs that intervene and try to keep kids from dropping out, but not too many districts have programs that say, "You can't come to this school unless you've dropped out. We want to get you back in the system." That's what makes it novel, so it's real important for us to have the data on it because I think it is a program that we can demonstrate on a national level as something to do and here are some of the things that work.

The SS worked, and continues to make a contribution to the community, despite a number of internal problems. For example, the initiator of the program, although able to create shared commitment to a vision, was less able to deal with managing the daily operations of the program. Because commitment to the SS was widely shared, the school district and other partners developed solutions to the communication and operational problems that were developing as a result. Further, the first solution that the district tried, appointing a district administrator to supervise the SS, did not work. Despite the problems, persistence, attention to emerging concerns, and commitment enabled the SS to be successful.

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[Storefront School Partnership Part A]

[School-to-Work Partnership Part A ]

This page was last updated January 8, 2002 (jca)