In September 2004, the Baltimore City Public School
System will open a new high school based on a model created
by the Center for
Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins
University.
Known as the Baltimore
Talent
Development High School, it will be one of the city's
"innovation high schools," neighborhood schools embracing
new visions of what makes an urban high school successful.
The Talent Development High School model is already in
place in more than 50 schools in 10 states and the District
of Columbia.
"But this is the first time we will be building a high
school from scratch," said CSOS research scientist Robert
Balfanz. "We're very excited to be doing this in
Baltimore."
Sharing space in a building that currently houses
Harlem Park Middle School at 1500 Harlem Ave., the
Baltimore Talent Development High School will offer a full
academic program, fea-turing "double doses" — two
courses per year — of literacy and mathematics
instruction for students who need to catch up. It also will
offer early college and advanced placement courses for
eligible students.
The plan is to enroll 180 ninth-graders for the
2004-2005 school year, adding a new class of freshmen each
year until the school has about 600 students in ninth
through 12th grades. The Baltimore Talent Development High
School will enroll students from across the city, though
most will be drawn from the neighborhood surrounding the
school. CSOS researchers will have a hand in hiring the
principal and teaching staff.
The innovation high school program is funded by the
city and the Fund for Educational Excellence, a 20-year-old
partnership of businesses, parents, educators and community
members dedicated to improving educational opportunities
and the academic performance of students in the Baltimore
City public school system. The Baltimore Talent Development
High School will receive $600,000 over five years for
start-up costs and professional development for
teachers.
The Talent Development model is designed to
counterattack the things that make students want to drop
out of high school, Balfanz said. In urban settings, it's
typical for 80 percent of the students to miss 20 or more
days of school each year.
"The Talent Development model combats feelings of
anonymity and apathy," Balfanz said. Those feelings are
quashed in Talent Development schools with Freshman
Seminar, part of the ninth-grade curriculum. The course
helps students make the transition from middle to high
school by focusing on study skills, time management, test
taking, goal setting and peer relationships. Research shows
that students unprepared for the demands of high school are
the most likely to drop out; Freshman Seminar aims to
prevent this.
Once students are working to grade level and have
gotten the swing of high school, the Talent Development
model then empowers students to make choices about the
future through real world-focused courses of study, Balfanz
said. "Students in urban schools often wonder, Why am I
here? At the same time, some students in these schools are
thinking about college, but they're not sure how to get
there."
To that end, the Baltimore Talent Development High
School will contain schools within the school in the form
of "career academies" — one focused on arts and
communications and the other on science and technology.
Students in the upper grades will select which career
academy they'd like to attend based on exploration during
their freshman year.
In addition to core classes, each school day will
include a 45-minute arts period built into the schedule at
the end of the day, when it's anticipated that students
will be able to take chorus or band, participate in a
theater group or join the debate team.
"It's a 'just for the joy of it' period," Balfanz
said. "This kind of enrichment has been cut away from many
schools, and it's so necessary. Students need to stretch
themselves in a different way."
Civic engagement projects also will be curriculum
components, Balfanz said. Students will research a problem
they see in their own neighborhoods and come up with a
solution. At the end of the year, they'll present their
plans at a press conference, Balfanz said.
"It's really about getting the students to become
active in their community, showing them that they can make
a difference there," he said.
While the Baltimore Talent Development High School
will present a great opportunity for city students, it also
will offer CSOS researchers and curriculum writers a chance
to see their work in action, allowing them to see what
works for students and teachers and what needs further
study, Balfanz said.
"The goal isn't to create a school that can only exist
with a partnership with a university," Balfanz said. "We
want other schools to see that this is a real school in a
real city environment and that it's a model that can work
anywhere."
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