The Ohio High School Transformation Initiative is one of the nation's most aggressive school improvement efforts focused on changing Ohio's prevailing, ineffective high school model. As a result, Ohio's large, struggling, urban high schools are becoming smaller, successful high schools on the same campus, where students receive personal attention, and study academically relevant and rigorous material that inspires them to achieve.

Grounded in the belief that learning is about relationships, the Transformation encourages teacher, community, and student engagement, placing the power for change in the hands of those who can make it happen.

More than 30 years of research has revealed that small schools can raise graduation rates and achievement test scores in our public high schools. Results of successful small school initiatives statewide show that students in small schools are more likely to enjoy:

• stronger academic achievement;
  
• safety and security;
  
• a sense of belonging;
  
• higher grades;
  
• better attendance;
  
• lower dropout rates;
  
• an individual learning plan;
  
• greater participation in extracurricular activities;
  
• and increased college enrollment.

Small schools are more successful than larger schools because students receive personal attention from instructors. Students have remarked that small school instructors "really care" and "are on you when you don't get your homework done!"

These new small schools provide students with a relevant and rigorous curriculum supported by the following innovations:

• Organization around students' individual learning styles, such as multiple intelligences theory, tailors learning to fit student needs;
  
• "Majors," such as business or health, provide "hooks" that make learning relevant to students;
  
• Team-based projects and other real world work methods replace the traditional "stand and deliver" lecturing style of the past.

As a result, students who before didn't care much about high school or college are becoming engaged and passionate about learning. Watch student testimonials of how small high schools are making a big difference in their lives.

Already more than $70 million has been invested in Ohio's Transformation, partly funded by KnowledgeWorks Foundation. Successes to date include:

• Field-tested experience in 11 urban districts across Ohio;
• 73 new redesigned high schools launched through the Ohio High School Transformation Initiative (OHSTI);
• The grand opening of 58 small schools in August and September of 2004 that received more than $20 million in technical assistance;
  
• More than $40 million in technical assistance and direct grants from our Foundation.