Reviewed by Mary K. Tedrow
Millbrook High School
Winchester, Virginia

"Well, there you go again—making sense. What were you thinking?"

That is how the English teachers tease each other in our workroom
when we discuss a credible idea for change. And "that makes
sense" is what ran through my mind as I read Time to Learn
by George Wood, a supremely sensible book.

In this second edition, Wood updates the progress Federal Hocking
High School (FHHS) in Ohio has made since its initial restructuring
in 1993-94. Most notably, principal Wood acknowledges early
on that since the first publication in 1998, his school has
come under the same testing pressure the rest of the nation
has experienced, but test scores are not his primary concern.
And then, like brushing away a pesky fly and to underscore
his statement, he never mentions testing again.

Back at my school the "you're making sense again" joke stems from
an observation that some school practices don't make sense
because they may actually interfere with what might be best
for kids. So when someone makes a suggestion borne out of
what seems obvious to us all, we often reply "Now that would
make sense, wouldn't it?" The implication is that if it makes
sense it probably won't happen in our lifetime. Thus, we express
our frustration with the unresponsive bureaucracy we feel
mired in.

George Wood saw and noted what didn't make sense in his school and
did something about it—without waiting for bureaucratic
sanction. He accomplished his sweeping changes by engaging
his faculty, parents, and students in a search for workable
solutions to make their high school a meaningful experience
for all of his students.

Wood based his need for change on a number of strong philosophical
stances, all of which had me nodding in agreement. Each argument
was supported with statistical information and individual
student stories that any veteran educator would recognize.
By themselves, those stories should turn any reader into an
advocate for sweeping and immediate change. As Wood points
out, any one student should not have to wait for the slow
wheel of reform to turn. After all, every American's last
shared experience with Americans from all walks of life occurs
in the mere 5,000 hours that comprise the high school experience.
It's a last chance to make a difference in everyone's life.

Wood's strongest argument for reform is that high school should serve
as a "finishing school for democracy," creating good citizens
and the kind of neighbors every community aspires to. He stresses
that the community should determine what kind of citizen they
want, and then the school should mentor the student into the
role of fully enfranchised citizen, ready to take an active
role upon graduation. In my opinion, this descriptor of the
role of schools in a democratic nation, as originally described
by Thomas Jefferson, has been minimized or nearly forgotten
in the current testing-mania.

Wood next maintains that our high schools force kids (and teachers)
to fit the system, rather than the other way around. And sometimes
the fit is completely counter to helping kids learn. The use
and control of the time the school has with the child is the
biggest factor in how our kids are taught. Wood figures this
time as 5,000 hours throughout the high school career. Making
changes to the schedule to provide time for real learning
was one of the first aspects of change in the school life
at FHHS.

Wood also argues that effective teaching requires that the student
must agree to accept instruction. Good teachers, he says,
already inspire loyalty from their students and in this way
earn the devotion and energy needed to attend to the material.
The FHHS staff recognized that by creating a strong community
within the building, students would not only become known
individuals but have a strong sense of belonging and loyalty
to the school.

Finally, Wood claims that everything about the traditional high school
program is intended to "certify competence" on the way to
the next experience, such as work or college. This implication
creates students who are merely completing courses in order
to satisfy prerequisites, rather than investing in the learning
for its own sake. Record keeping (numbers of credits, pass/fail
rates) becomes more important to students who are constantly
looking ahead to the next goal (or not), rather than attaining
knowledge or understanding. An early goal for FHHS was to
create a high school experience that would be valuable on
it own merits.

So,what does a restructured school look like?

At FHHS, time is built in so that every adult in the building
can work closely with a small group of students throughout
their four years of high school, creating a culture where
every student is well known. The schedule reflects a slowing
of the pace in order to ensure that students truly understand
the content. The student load teachers were responsible for
was cut nearly in half. Students are steered into programs
that match their skills and abilities, and the close ties
to the adults build a safe community where risk taking can
occur.

The FHHS day has some unstructured time where students, under
the mentorship of adults, are free to choose activities they
wish to engage in. As the students progress through high school
they work toward a graduation portfolio that reflects three
aspects of their time in school: A Career Readiness Folio,
a Democratic Citizen Folio, and a Skills for Lifelong Learning
Folio. Every student must present their portfolio to a committee
before graduation.

To create the democratic citizen, students are given many opportunities
to take part in the running of the school. Students are responsible
for some administrative duties—including scheduling student
activities, fundraisers, school tours, and participating in
interviews for faculty positions. As the students progress
through school, they are given more and more responsibility
and autonomy, opportunities to wrestle with big ideas in seminars
and labs, and the responsibility of maintaining and reflecting
on a record of what they have learned.

The bulk of the book explores how FHHS and other restructured
schools work, but in his closing chapters Wood emphasizes
that each school community must undertake its own study to
determine what is best for its own students. Anticipating
what his readers may already be thinking, the final chapters
deal with the objections he repeatedly hears from visitors
to his school—statements that often begin with "yes,
but." In addition to insisting that every school can find
a way to help kids, he strongly cautions against schools picking
up a cookie cutter program and applying it to their own school
without involving parents, teachers, and students. His appendix
is a list of resources interested leaders can draw from to
build their own programs

Probably more important than the actual structure of FHHS is the implication
that school reform can happen anywhere there is committed,
courageous leadership that holds what is best for children
and communities at the forefront.