Reinventing schools in Detroit--Jennifer Mrozowski / The Detroit News

Steven McGhee doesn't want anyone to miss the transformation taking place at his troubled school, so the principal of Osborn High School spent several weekends painting the hallways and lockers at his own expense to reflect the colors of colleges.

The transformation goes far beyond paint, however.

Osborn will be carved into four themed programs this fall, offering students a more specialized education in smaller classroom settings. The goal is to graduate college-ready students from a school where just 4 percent of students taking the Michigan Merit Exam passed the math and writing portions.

"It's not going to be 'if they go to college,' " McGhee said of his students. "It's about where they are going to college."

The transformation is one of the most ambitious and radical efforts in Michigan -- and one that could serve as a model for turning around other low-performing schools, observers say.

The stakes are high for the district with the nation's lowest graduation rate -- 37.5 percent for 2005, the most recent year for comparison.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has said the poor quality of education in Detroit Public Schools keeps him up at night, but today the district hopes to show Duncan that change is afoot when he tours Cody High School, which also is being transformed.

"It's an opportunity for the secretary to meet with students at a school that is in the process of being transformed from a classic large comprehensive setting into one which follows proven principles aimed at ensuring student success in small schools with specific focuses," said district spokesman Steve Wasko.

Kristen McDonald, senior program officer for education at the Skillman Foundation, said the model being used in Detroit is different from other schools' initiatives that attempt to create smaller learning communities within big buildings.

"When kids start to fall behind, it's not caught at the end of the semester when they fail a class," McDonald said of the DPS model. "It's caught on the second day, when they don't understand a lesson."

Working from a model
The district is working with the New York-based Institute for Student Achievement, which specializes in school redesign. The model requires schools to create a college preparatory curriculum, continually train staff, extend the school day and year, boost parent involvement and have all staff members work to create a caring environment.

The reform was launched last year under former Superintendent Connie Calloway but is continuing under the district's emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb. Calloway originally pegged five schools to be overhauled -- Cody High; the Cody Ninth Grade Academy, which now is being absorbed into Cody High; Osborn High; Henry Ford High; and Vetal Elementary. Henry Ford's transformation has been delayed, pending grant funding, and Vetal is pursuing a model of shared decision-making.

Bobb said he supports the project, Wasko said, because "it has been well-researched, and that research supports this approach as yet another opportunity to increase student achievement. He is also encouraged by the level of community engagement and potential for external support that the high school redesign planning has demonstrated."

Grants boosted program
The district launched the initiative with a $1.5 million grant from the Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund and a $350,000 grant from the Detroit-based Skillman Foundation for the efforts at Cody and Osborn, where the biggest transformations are taking place.

The schools were chosen for an overhaul because of abysmal test scores. On the spring 2008 Michigan Merit Exam, just 3 percent of Cody students passed the math test. The state average was 46 percent.

There are other problems, too. Students fight and gamble in hallways and, on any given day, 20 percent to 25 percent of students skip at least one class, said Principal Johnathon Matthews.

For some students, a more intimate college preparatory school where teachers can tend to students' individual needs is a great solution.

"I wish I would've had that last year so I didn't fail as many classes," said Rasheed Oruche, 15, a sophomore who wants to attend the technology school.

Oruche said he failed four classes because he fought frequently with other students. He said he would look at another student and get "jumped," then defend himself and get suspended.

Relationships are key
Matthews knows that transformations to smaller schools nationwide have had mixed results, so he plans to change teaching methods and build intimate relationships with students.

"Having smaller schools is not enough," he said. "You've got to change the instruction. And the key is in the relationships."

He said a new, student-driven teaching model -- called inquiry-based teaching -- will be central to the overhaul.

"The students are in charge of the learning process," Matthews said.

"They are posing the questions. They are figuring out the answers themselves, and the teacher is facilitating the understanding."

Matthews says the new schools model also should ensure that the needs of every student are addressed.

He tells the story of a student who skipped class regularly and broke into the band room. Matthews said he was determined to crack down on him until one day he caught the boy in the band room, surrounded by a group of kids.

"He was playing the piano," Matthews said, adding the student was talented and craved an outlet in a school that has no band. Instead of suspending the student, Matthews helped him get involved in the choir. He now plays piano for the group, and regularly goes to class, Matthews said, adding that he hopes the small school model will ensure that pupils like that don't get lost.

"You gotta know where to reach a child," he said. In a smaller school setting, where teachers and staff know each student, that will be easier, he said.

Gena Clay, a volunteer at Cody, is weighing whether to transfer her daughter from Oak Park Academy to Cody High next year as a 10th grader, and is happy to hear of the changes.

"This should've been submitted a long time ago," she said. "It'll be like a close-knit family."

jmrozowski@detnews.com (313) 222-2269