Notes on “Adams Avenue School for Individually Guided Education”

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Reference: Metz, Mary Haywood. 1986. “Adams Avenue School for Individually Guided Education.” Chapter 4 (pp. 57-103) in Different by Design: The Context and Character of Three Magnet Schools. Routledge: New York. Started offering IGE in 1976: This case is a natural system perspective School character

Teacher-student interaction Very close relationships. The teachers grew to know their students The students were more involved and committed than in other schools the author had

seen before The tone was positive in general (for example, no one single ball was lost during the entire

year) Inter-racial relationships

Kids tended to bond with their own race, but the spontaneous groups were fairly mixed The program in practice

The students didn't notice a big difference, because they were still in groups The teachers took their work seriously, but sometimes they rotated the students in the groups and the kids ended up repeating activities Influences

Environmental influences Environment

• Location downtown • Small building • Cozy atmosphere: Positive faculty culture, Constructive relationships

1972 Williams Annex was created to alleviate discipline problems • There was no clarity on how the program works • The units in the multi-unit system were taken for granted as a separate part of the school • 1976 Idea: Create a magnet school

o When launched, teachers didn't feel well prepared o There were no good materials o They tried to engage the parents, but the parents were very demanding. They spent a

lot of time planning social events for the parents o The parents with better social-economic status started to transfer their kids to other

schools The students had very low performance

• Lack of parental attention • Very low skills

Technological influences The curriculum structure allowed advanced students to continue their work without having to

wait for slower peers Reward structure: based on effort rather than accomplishment The system tended to equalize academic prestige as lower skilled students had more

opportunities, and high skilled weren't awarded out-of-this-world prizes The class structure promoted the group discussions Led the social structure and constructed a positive ethos

Leadership

Very good leader Encouraged integration and extra-curricula activities