Client Highlights

Oregon Small Schools Initiative

The Oregon Small Schools Initiative is a multi-year, $25 million statewide program to increase student achievement and graduation rates in Oregon high schools. It will help communities develop both restructured and new high schools that offer a rigorous, personalized education to all students, and which will serve as models for the rest of the state. These schools will ensure equally high outcomes for all participants so that success or failure can no longer be predicted by race, gender, home language, or economic status. The Initiative will act as a catalyst to transform teaching and learning, school structure, and educational policy in Oregon.

The Oregon Small Schools Initiative is a program of E3: Employers for Education Excellence, funded by a $25 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust. E3: Employers for Education Excellence is a statewide non-profit organization that promotes high academic standards and strong community involvement to prepare all Oregon students for college, work and civic life.

Since its inception in 2003, Swanson & Cosgrave Consulting has served as the Initiative's primary educational consultants, working closely with Initiative Director Karen Phillips to design key strategies, tools, and training opportunities.

Recently our firm began assisting the Initiative in the design and facilitation of a special cadre of small schools within their network. These schools all use the arts and design as unifying academic themes. The Arts Cadre, launched in late 2006, will feature design work, professional development planning and facilitation, and hands-on pilot projects in 11 high schools across the state.

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National Academy Foundation

The National Academy Foundation (NAF) is a New York-based organization that supports a network of career academies in over 400 high schools across the nation. NAF operates Academies in four career themes: finance, hospitality & tourism, information technology, and engineering. While some academies began under a "school within a school" model, NAF now supports their network in whole-school redesign. Cadres of Academy students share two to three common Academy classes each semester and complete paid internships during the summer of their Junior year. NAF Academies are targeted to schools in the nation's urban centers, but are appropriate for and thrive in urban, suburban, and rural areas where businesses exist alongside the schools.

The NAF Academy model consists of three critical components:

Swanson & Cosgrave Consulting works with NAF on:

Learn more about NAF at: www.naf.org

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Hawaii Consortium Schools

Funded by a $2.5 million U.S. Department of Education Smaller Learning Communities Grant, the Hawaii SLC Consortium Schools Initiative seeks to increase academic performance in 13 high schools across the state through extensive teacher training, leadership development, and the implementation of small learning communities for all students. Swanson & Cosgrave was the lead consulting agency for the project when it began, providing services such as:

High schools included in the consortium (which represent nearly 1/4 of all Hawaii public high schools) include Campbell, Kahuku, Kalaheo, Kaimuki, Kalani, Kauai, King Kekaulike, Lahainaluna, Maui, Roosevelt, Waiakea, Waianae, and Waipahu.

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Kanu O Ka Aina

Kanu O Ka Aina, a "New Century" public charter school serving over 150 K-12 students on the Big Island, was designed by native Hawaiian educators to provide a rich academic program which fuses culture and technology to give Hawaiian children an opportunity to "walk in both worlds" - the world of tradition and the world of 21st century skills and knowledge. Principal and school founder Ku Kahakalau, who has been working with Michelle for over a decade, notes that Kanu provides a "high quality education that is culturally-driven, family-oriented and community-based."

As expected, the school is attracting attention far beyond its local community, largely because of dramatic gains in student achievement - often several grade levels in a single year - and because of a high degree of participation by parents and community members. In May 2003 the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported that by its third year, a thousand visitors had come to observe the Kanu process, which features hands-on, project-based experiences in marine science, plant science, and computer science. Recent visitors to Kanu's Waimea campus include U.S. Representative Ed Case (D-Hawaii) and Dr. Susan Sclafani, Counselor to US Secretary of Education Rod Paige.

Swanson & Cosgrave Consulting works with Kanu to:

Learn more about Kanu at: www.kalo.org