NEW YORK, NY December 13, 2002 — Around the city, low-performing high schools are being broken up into smaller schools - with three or four sometimes sharing the same building. Studies show smaller schools are more effective. And Chancellor Joel Klein hopes to create 200 new schools over the next few years. But neighborhood high schools are cherished institutions. WNYC's Beth Fertig has more.

One of the latest examples of school reform is taking place on the fourth floor of South Bronx High School. It's here, in one corridor, where you'll find the Mott Haven Village Preparatory High School.

TEACHER: Who has an idea for something you can declare your independence against? What do you want to declare your freedom from? KIDS: School! TEACHER: Think about it, one person raising your hand.

These ninth graders are studying U.S. History by writing their own declaration of independence - starting with things they'd like to change.

KID: lunch. TEACHER: What do you mean? KID: WE can go outside. TEACHER: So you can come up with your rights to a nice place to eat lunch.

Humanities teacher Alfredo Matthew says he wanted his pupils to get more involved in their coursework.

MATTHEW: This document is a couple of hundred years old and they might not see the relevance so by bringing it to their lives and giving them a sense of history and ownership.

Mott Haven Prep declared its own independence in September, when it opened with 82 ninth graders. It's housed in a high school of about 1000 students - where only 21 percent were able to meet Regents Proficiency standards in English after four years. But Principal Anna Torres Maldonado believes her new program can succeed. Mostly because of its size.

MALDONADO: We expect to have up to about 320 students when we do have 9th through 12th grade so that's small compared to the high schools that we do have. And the classrooms right now are 20 students to a class except for one where we have 21 students.

Maldonado hired five young teachers who work beyond the call of duty, she says. Though Mott Haven Prep follows the state's Regents curriculum, she says teachers are constantly adapting their lessons to meet students' needs.

MALDONADO: I know all their names, I know most of their family members - the ones that I've met. It goes beyond just the curriculum.

TEACHER: What have we got, Eminem is a hypocrite..

So far, that extra attention seems to be paying off. Mott Haven's average daily attendance is 93 percent - about 10 points higher than the citywide average for high schools. Some students gripe about the dress code. They can only wear black and white - no jeans. But fifteen year old Jason Torres is enjoying the change from his old neighborhood middle school.

JASON: This school is way better, the teachers teach better. They find a way to relate to the kids in a way they'll learn it fun, faster, be able to understand and get good grades. I went from an 80 average now to a 93 average.

Mott Haven Prep is one of 16 small schools that opened around the city this fall. Many are located in schools like South Bronx High that have poor graduation rates. In fact, there are two other small schools just down the hall from Mott Haven Prep devoted to urban history and sports. Michele Cahill, a senior counsel to the Chancellor, says these schools will eventually replace many low performing high schools.

CAHILL: It's not the death of the neighborhood school in this respect. The buildings will be there. They'll be serving young people from the neighborhood. But instead of one school in which only half to a third of students are graduating you'll have sets of small schools in which by the track record of these kinds of schools you have much, much higher graduation rates. We're aiming for everyone to graduate in 4 years and go on to college.

New York City has been a leader in the small schools movement over the past decade. Studies show these schools do graduate a higher percentage of students, and send more to college. Even if their standardized test scores aren't always much higher.

The push to reform failing high schools follows years in which the city focused on reading and math at the elementary level. But it also comes at a time when the city is feeling squeezed by state and federal mandates. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools can be closed if they don't show annual progress. And Cahill acknowledges the city is struggling to provide enough options to comply with another provision allowing students to transfer out of failing schools.

CAHILL: We need to create many, many more - a greater supply of high schools that are working.

The chancellor is planning to open 200 new schools over the next few years, not all of them high schools. That's a tall order at a time of budget cuts. Officials say assistance from the private sector will be critical. The schools that opened this year were part of a 30 million dollar grant from three major foundations. About 20 more schools will open next fall.

The sudden pace of reform has caught some communities off guard. In Bushwick, Brooklyn, hundreds of parents, teachers and students attended a meeting this fall after learning their local high school is going to be phased out starting next year.

My name is Manuel Checko, and the thing about Bushwick is this. We don't need a new school in Bushwick we need better programs. It's not even necessary to do all this nonsense it's not going to help nobody. I've been at Bushwick for 3 years. I never had any good opportunies.

Bushwick High is one of the lowest performing schools in the city. The four year graduation rate is less than 25 percent. Twenty year old Julissa Gonzalez says many students want more resources instead of dividing their school into different units. She herself attended Bushwick, and recently started a committee that surveyed the students. She says they're also afraid small schools won't take everyone who applies.

GONZALEZ: They feel a sense of loyalty to Bushwick High School. They don't want to have to transfer to any other schools. But at the same time, the majority of the students who I've spoken to agree changes need to be made.

Gonzalez has been working with a Bushwick community group called Make the Road by Walking. Oona Chatterjee, the group's co-director, says many parents in this immigrant community are also worried.

CHATTERJEE: It's going incredibly fast. If they're planning 4 small schools or however many small schools in our neighborhood, they could do it and they could just break up what is a serious problem at Bushwick High School which needs a lot of attention into four smaller problems that need a lot of attention.

But education experts say that kind of attention can't be given under the current system. Robert Hughes is president of New Visions for Public Schools, a non profit that opened 35 small schools of its own in the early 1990s. His group was chosen by the city to administer the grant program that's funding the new schools. He says they'll be open to all ninth graders in their communities - and won't screen anyone out.

HUGHES: These schools are designed to address the needs of kids living in the neighborhood where the large low performing school is located. So if a Bushwick child wants to be able to go to these schools they'll be able to go.

The Education Department hasn't decided how many new schools will open in Bushwick next fall. Nor is it clear what kind of support will be available for students in the upper grades - because the new programs are only for ninth graders. They may get extra tutoring while they continue going to high schools that are being phased out. School officials are now reaching out to neighborhood leaders. The grant program requires each new school to have a lead partner in its community.

TEACHER: What do you want to write about? KID: I want to be free from town hall.

At Mott Haven Prep in the Bronx, East Side House Settlement played a huge role in designing the program, and hiring the staff. The settlement house has a long history of serving the Bronx. But assistant executive director Josue Rodriguez says his group faced the same kinds of questions people are now raising in Bushwick.

RODRIGUEZ: Look we've never been part of a high school, at least our community based organization other than providing programs. We're the experts in the community. We're not experts in the educational field. But when you make that marriage then it becomes successful.

As with any marriage, however, that success depends largely on trust. As the city begins creating small new programs in the very same high schools that have been failing for years, educators and the communities they serve will have to work together on forging that new relationship. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.