It is also likely that in a preponderance of those schools, despite the best of intentions or beliefs and despite the implementation of the newest educational reform, all children are not being served. This is because, traditionally, American public high schools have been structured around time assuming that all students can learn on the same schedule and all effective teaching methods can be fit into neat little boxes of time and served in the same way to each student. This structure is an outgrowth of a system developed for an industrial society. In this type of system, it is often convenient to say that students who master material in a shorter period of time are gifted and students who take longer are learning disabled. Educational and scientific research as well as the simple observation of a high school class and our own personal experiences, tell us that these assumptions are just not true.
All children can learn but at their own pace and in a manner suited to their own unique abilities.
The Providence School Department recommends the creation of a high school that is performance-based and structured to meet the individual learning styles and needs of each student. In a recent article in The New York Times, Arthur Levine the president of Teachers College at Columbia University, states that the formal recognition of individual learning styles is not a fad, which will pass but is the start of a revolution that will transform American education forever. With this new performance-based high school, Providence can be a national leader in this revolution. While many high schools around the country are implementing reforms that respect the individual nature of teaching and learning, all too often these reforms are just tweaks at the margins. All of the high schools in Providence are currently in the midst of an intensive redesign process that will guide them towards the goal of guaranteeing high standards for all students.