OXFORD – In the eyes of some, a “smaller” approach to learning is the best approach.

And thanks to a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, SAD 17 will be studying how to make smaller learning environments at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.

Grants were awarded on June 12 to 34 Maine high schools to find ways to strengthen secondary education. Not all grants were the same size and not all were specified to serve the same function.

OHCHS was one of six high schools to receive first-year grants of $20,000 and technical support of about equal value. They were in the “Six Large High Schools Learning to be Small” category.

Superintendent Mark Eastman said the money the district receives would be used for planning, with the goal of providing a more personalized learning environment for students.

He said at the end of the first year all six schools would be eligible to apply for more grant money to implement some of the ideas they reached. However, only two of the schools would be able to get funding.

Eastman said high school staff would form a committee to study creating a smaller learning environment for the approximate 1,200 students there.

“I don’t want to anticipate what they’re going to come up with,” Eastman said.

Planning costs can include money to hire substitutes while teachers work on the proposal, take staff off site to workshops, or hire facilitators.

OHCHS joined Lewiston High School, Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham, Noble High School in North Berwick, Portland High School and South Portland High School in the grant’s “Six Large High Schools Learning to be Small” category.

The project has committed more than $700,000 over the next five years to help the schools make smaller learning environments.

jsmedley@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link