The Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program was established in response to growing national concerns about students too often lost and alienated in large, impersonal high schools, as well as concerns about school safety and low levels of achievement and graduation for many students. Authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the SLC program was designed to provide local educational agencies with funds to plan, implement, or expand SLCs in large high schools of 1,000 students or more.

The SLC legislation allows local educational agencies to implement the most suitable structure or combination of structures and strategies to meet their needs.

The Implementation Study of Smaller Learning Communities: Final Report was designed to study the early implementation of the SLC program. The study based its findings on data from 119 grantees from among those funded in 2000 in the first cohort of grantees and surveyed in the spring of 2002 and fall 2003. The report also used data from in-depth case studies of 18 grantees that intended to use freshman or career academies to structure a smaller learning community.

Major implementation and outcome findings from the study included:

Implementation Findings

• The most prevalent SLC structures were freshman and career academies.
• Most participating schools chose to implement one or more SLC strategies, with block scheduling and teacher teams the most popular choices.
• Smaller Learning Community-related professional development, although provided by nearly all schools, was not very extensive.
• Most schools reported they applied for SLC funds to increase overall student academic achievement, academic achievement of at-risk students and student motivation.
• Schools reported a number of factors limiting effective SLC implementation, including scheduling and logistical issues, physical space, lack of teacher SLC professional development, and school staffing needs, especially in terms of core academic teachers and guidance counselors.

While the study was primarily focused on implementation issues, some limited data on outcomes from the first Annual Performance Reports (APRs) are included in the report along with a number of limitations and cautions in interpreting the data. The data were based on school overall statistics observed immediately before and after participation in the federal program, and in no way imply a causal connection.

• The data suggest an upward trend in student extracurricular participation before and after program participation.
• There was a statistically significant positive trend in the percentage of 9th-grade students being promoted to 10th grade during the post-grant period.
• There was also a downward trend in the incidence of violence in SLC schools over time.
• The data suggest increases in the percentage of graduating students who reported they planed to attend either two- or four-year colleges.
• There were no significant trends observed in academic achievement, as measured by either scores on statewide assessments or college entrance exams over the short period of the study.

For more information or a complete copy of Implementation Study of Smaller Learning Communities: Final Report, visit http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/reports.html#slc.

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