A Cutting Edge School by the Bay

from the column "Private Souls in the Public Eye" by "Nina B."

"Your job is to make them feel lovable.
Our job is to make them feel competent."

--Leslie Medine, Executive Director of Beacon High School, at a parent's meeting

Those words seemed so remarkable to Lynn, as soon as she heard them spoken, she grabbed for paper and pen. In years of such meetings, she'd never heard an educator suggest that parents might not be equally accountable for academics.

Lynn had felt guilty so long, she no longer questioned it. She simply accepted the notion that crowded classrooms and shrinking budgets meant parents must also serve as scholastic supervisors. Each time she failed to check the bookbag or inspect the homework, if a project languished forgotten until just before it was due, she faulted herself at least as much as she faulted a teacher or child.

The years passed, the grades continued to waver, while Lynn grew more guilty and her offspring grew more discouraged from so often hearing "you're bright, but you're not cutting it."

Lynn finally determined to investigate alternatives, a journey which even- tually led to a place called Beacon in Oakland.

-= An educational oasis =-

When I wrote about new ideas in education last year, I was not aware that a cutting edge school, praised by sources such as David Kearns, CEO of Xerox Corporation, and Dr. Martin Ford of Stanford, existed just over the hill. But in a sheltered oasis a block away from the boats moored in the waters between Oakland and Alameda, sits an attractively renovated old brick building housing separate facilities for students from pre-school through 12th grade.

Determined to break the mold and build a better one in a "laboratory" for new ways of teaching, founders Leslie Medine and Thelma Farley began Beacon 11 years ago, growing grade by grade.The final link, Beacon High School, opened three years ago and now enrolls over 90 teens who commute daily from points as distant as San Francisco and Contra Costa.

Lynn was drawn to Beacon when she heard the school was not just about good grades or admission to college, but also about finding the pleasure in learning, building self-confidence and taking responsibility.

-= How this school differs =-

The approach appears to be working. At her first school meeting, Lynn heard reports from several parents. A shy student now blooming. An underachiever now motivated. A bright student now stimulated. Improved performance. Strong commitments. And the talented, caring staff who help make it so.

What about Beacon is different? For starters, the school year runs 240 days instead of 180.The classes last 2 hours, instead of 50 minutes. With 3 tri- mesters per year, students carry only 3 classes per term. The curriculum is integrated across disciplines, such as a course mixing art with science. And a commitment to diversity keeps tuition comparatively affordable.

Beacon calls itself a "developmental" school, which implies attention to the whole child as a person and to that whole person's stages of growth. Classes are not grouped by age, but by mastery. If mastery is attained, a student moves on; but until it is reached, the student remains. Those with less than 80% mastery at the end of a term repeat the course or accept no credit.

-= Personal links =-

Innovations at Beacon involve more than new kinds of structure; staff attitudes and student-mentor relations also build links between people.

Small classes of 9 to 15 mean nobody goes unnoticed, yet without an effective teacher, class size alone will not make a giant difference. Students and parents say the staff at Beacon, whether fresh out of college, approaching retirement age or somewhere in between, are highly thought-provoking and deeply invested.

In addition to classes, each teacher heads an "advisory," an assigned group who lunch with their mentor twice weekly to talk about whatever is on their minds. Male teachers team with male students, and females with females, to help conversation flow freely. Each advisory group stays together for their entire sojourn at the high school, increasing the sense of connection between students and between generations.

I am hopeful those of us with kids in public school might see a similar renewal of spirit and similar changes closer to home before long. But if you are looking at alternatives, Beacon is now taking applications for fall. The school can be reached at +1-510-436-6462.

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Last Modified: Thursday, October 02, 1997 9:34:45 PM

Steven J. Foust, peregrin@enteract.com