At CART High near Fresno, there is no gum stuck to the floor. The saffron-yellow walls are unmarred by graffiti. Toting laptops, students file calmly down spacious, light-filled hallways to classes like biotechnology and digital marketing. There\u2019s no fighting, no shouting, no bells. No one even cuts class.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to believe CART High is a public high school. But in the future, this may be a model for every high school in California.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can see from the data that the big, old-fashioned factory model of high school \u2013 where students run from class to class with a locker as their only stable point of contact \u2013 is not succeeding,\u201d said Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the State Board of Education. \u201cWe need to overhaul the whole idea of what high school can be, and right now we have an opportunity to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, a state agency, is launching a\u00a0pilot program<\/a>\u00a0to redesign high school and middle school. Groups of districts already working on escaping the factory model applied for grant money, and winners will meet, brainstorm, work through challenges and share their experiences statewide, in hopes of inspiring other districts to create innovative high school options. The money will come from $10 million recently allotted in the state budget, as well as state programs promoting career pathways and dual enrollment in high school.\u00a0<\/p>\n The idea is to move beyond the traditional high school \u2014 with its rigid 50-minute periods and stand-alone classes \u2014 and replace it with a new type of school that offers work experience, academics tailored to students\u2019 interests, stronger personal connections with staff and multidisciplinary courses that link directly to careers and community needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt should be a joy to go to school every day,\u201d Darling-Hammond said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n Countless schools in California use elements of this idea, with schools-within-schools that offer career academies or other specialized programs. But very few high schools are devoted completely to it.<\/p>\n How high school came to be<\/p>\n Public high schools have only existed for about a century in the U.S. Education for younger children has existed for hundreds of years, but the idea of school for teenagers only came about in the early 20th century. The original high schools were based loosely on a factory model of efficiency, with learning measured in Carnegie units \u2014 120 hours spent over a year studying a particular topic.\u00a0Promulgated by the Carnegie Foundation<\/a>\u00a0at the time in an effort to standardize education, the measure is still used at nearly all high schools and colleges.<\/p>\n But\u00a0advances in adolescent neuroscience<\/a>\u00a0have shown that teenagers learn more in a flexible environment with plenty of hands-on projects and teamwork. Instead of sitting quietly at desks and listening to a teacher, students are more likely to be engaged if they\u2019re allowed some autonomy to pursue topics they\u2019re interested in, with their peers.<\/p>\n Alternative schools \u2014 typically, schools for students who aren\u2019t succeeding in traditional school \u2014 have been experimenting with this approach for decades. The state\u2019s\u00a0top alternative schools<\/a>\u00a0aim to not only help students graduate, but also pair them with internships, teach them practical life skills and address their emotional well-being. They often have flexible schedules and small classes, with teachers getting to know students and their families personally.<\/p>\n