Ninth and tenth grade students at White Center's Evergreen High School are beginning get a more personalized education by joining the school's "small learning communities," all to curb low graduation rates and enhance student passion for learning, said Mike Sita, small schools coordinator for Evergreen.

Through focus groups and a range of surveys, Evergreen students, parents and staff agreed on three small schools; The Arts and Academics Academy; The School of Technology, Engineering and Design; and The Health Sciences and Human Services School.

All academies adhere to the same academic standards and district guidelines but have a thematic emphasis integrated into the curriculum, said Alan Spicciati, the district's director of secondary education. The students also share the same campus, resources, sports teams and extra curricular activities. It's likely they will be in separate buildings next year but still share the same campus, said Sita.

"We are trying to create autonomous spaces for them," said Spicciati. "It could mean retrofitting offices, moving walls and doors," but no heavy construction.

The schools are being integrated in stages. Grades ninth through 10th joined the schools this year, through 11th next year and all grades in 2007-08. When all grades are integrated, each school will have about 400 students, said Sita.

The drastic reform is necessary at Evergreen because the "hard facts" couldn't be ignored, said Spicciati.

About 27 percent of Evergreen 10th graders met all four standards for the 2002-03 Washington Assessment of Student Learning, and 23 percent did not satisfy any of the standards. Some scores have improved during the last few years, but no students met the standard for science in 2004. Scores improved in 2005, but more than half of the students are still not meeting the standards for all subjects.

"Evergreen is diverse ethnically and economically, even by Highline and Seattle school district standards," said Spicciati. "Last year two thirds of the students were students of color, and more than half are on the free or reduced lunch plan."

When disaggregated by ethnicity, the school is thought to have a substantial achievement gap, with 40 percent of Hispanic students graduating compared to 60 percent of white. The school gets a 2.4 out of five (five being excellent) on a survey by college-admissions officers and counselors that rates quality and rigor.

About 63 percent of Evergreen students graduate, but only half of those graduates can read, write and do math at a level that will allow them to succeed at higher education without re-taking remedial classes, according to the school district.

"These facts are nothing new to our district and many districts across the country, but it's still not acceptable," said district spokeswoman Catherine Carbone Rogers.

One reason personalization is necessary, said Spicciati, is that many of the families in the area are first or second generation Americans and few are college educated.

"Some of the students from those families need the extra help navigating into college," he said. "Not to say personalization isn't good for all students, but in particular, students who have obstacles such as poverty or limited English speaking skills, bode well from extra attention."

A central problem at Evergreen is that kids aren't connected with the relevance of what they are learning, said Sita.

"Too many schools like to point blame to the parents," he said. "It's a little self-righteous to say that. We are trying to fix what we aren't doing right. It's our charge to educate whatever kids show up at our door."

The district looked at schools across the country that serve diverse populations like Evergreen and found that many with high levels of personalization within small structures are successful, said Spicciati.

In a school like Evergreen, with 1,200 students, a student has about 48 different teachers in four years of school.

"There is no common adult role model in the school that they can connect to," said Sita. "Teachers are working with a factory model system now - 30 kids come in and 30 kids go out, six periods a day."

With the new 400-student academies, students see the same 15 to 20 teachers throughout high school, and teachers have more of an opportunity to coordinate subjects within their small school family, he said.

"There is a real separatism among the subjects, but that doesn't reflect the real world, said Spicciati. " Math isn't separate from social studies, language arts or history. You need to use a number of skills to produce a product. Life isn't that segmented. We need to structure our schools with that in mind."

Parents have received the plan "generally well," said Spicciati, though some are worried that the new structure could limit elective opportunities.

The school's band program, an important elective to many Evergreen students and parents, is now offered first period. But that could change. As the schools form their own personalities and class structures, they could choose to change the types of electives they offer to fit the students, said Sita.

"They might get really creative and that's what they are supposed to do - have the control to take care of their students the best way that fits them," he said.

"It's possible students could trade the flexibility of electives of the larger school for more personalized smaller schools," said Spicciati. "There probably won't be as wide a variety of electives."

Advanced placement classes are still offered, but it is unclear how they might fit with the academies as they change.

"We have some work to do to make sure we do the best job possible at making AP (advanced placement) available to everyone," said Spicciati. "We know post-secondary education is necessary to be successful."

Small Schools is part of the Highline School District's school reform effort to advance academic performance and prepare all students for college.

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached at rebekah@robinsonnews.com or 932.0300.