Doing more with less. This is often the statement that is handed to you from above…do what you have always been doing, in fact do a little more, and do it all with less. But what if doing more with less was a personal choice for a school?

This is the way at MLC. Metropolitan Learning Center is a small school (K-12, 425 students) so it has the given that more has to be done with less. However, to say "less" makes it seem like it is a disadvantage. As schools, let's figure out a way to do more without having to give up, meaning do more with what we have.

Again, this is a small school (by choice and design) so its constraints are not that of every school, but we can look to it and contemplate how we can take this successful community and flexible people and create the most. 

Wednesday is one of the several days for PE for my sons. My sons love PE. MLC has one PE teachers; she is the head of her department, and she is the department. This is also the case for, say, the middle school English teacher. 

Here's the deal, smaller school makes a stronger community which we know (Google it if you wish) improves the academics of a school. However, the trade off is that teachers have to give up some things like consistent preps, or may have to (willingly) teacher more than one subject. Teachers would also have to (willingly) team with other teachers and subjects and grades to better integrate to get that more with less.

And, at MLC, that is done.

I would teach at MLC just for the collaborative nature of the school among the staff. If you look at how the school is organized, grades 1-3 are connected (even a loop with two teachers doing a 1st/2nd split), 4-6 are connected 7-8, 9-12….Within the small school there exists smaller communities that plan and prepare.

MLC received the highest marks from the state of Oregon for it program–exceptional, showing that you can do more by reorganizing what you have and being allowed to do what is best for students. Portland Public School District has sort of a hands-off approach to MLC. They leave it alone to decide how it is run. And run well it does. 

Wouldn't it be great if a teachers were allowed to organized and build a program for a school based on what they know is the best approach rather than what is more commonly done–all schools in the district must have 7 periods, teach this subject first, start at this time, have this program . . . 

For Wednesday, I thought about what makes MLC successful and that is all of the small tweaks that they are allowed to do for the benefit of the school and its students. Taking what you have and using it how you know is best.