Hallways at Burke are eerily quiet, save exhortations piped through the public address system reminding students to be in seats at the start of class and ready to work. Bulletin boards display no announcements of after-school clubs or football team triumphs. They are plastered with samples of student writing. There is an austerity to the place, which Leonard says the reform requires to guarantee maximum academic absorption. But Leonard says there simply is not time for both.
Teachers agree that time is indeed stretched thin.
Periods once used for grading now are given over to meetings to discuss student progress. There is some grumbling. Indeed, on a sunny afternoon, rustling papers could be heard as teachers graded students' work with red pens during such a meeting. But teachers, particularly younger ones, say the meetings reduce isolation. Senior teachers echo the praise.