As other Highline School District high schools switch to small learning communities, Mt. Rainier High School is taking a slightly different path.

In September, ninth and tenth-graders at the Des Moines school will divide into three small academies, but juniors and seniors will complete their secondary education in a traditional "comprehensive" model.

Under the comprehensive model, students move between class rooms with different teachers and classmates in each one.

In learning communities, students take classes together in a themed school with a small group of teachers. In the more personalized atmosphere, all students should become well known by teachers who take responsibility for their success.

District alternative high schools-- Aviation, Big Picture and the Occupational Skills Center-- already offer small, personalized settings.

Tyee High in SeaTac changed to three small communities last September.

Burien's Highline High will go "wall-to-wall" with four themed schools for all grades in the fall.

Small schools for juniors and seniors will be phased in during a three-year period at Evergreen High in North Highline. The lower grades are already in academies.

But by Sept. 2008, current plans call for eleventh and twelfth graders at Mt. Rainier to be the only district high schoolers using the comprehensive model.

Mt. Rainier staff want to keep current excellent courses such as International Baccalaureate, an environmental academy and teaching academy for upperclassmen, according to principal Toni Pace.

Noted Pace, "We feel we already have a lot of things working.

"Our plan is to have a strong program for ninth and tenth graders that gets them hooked into school and gives them the skills to pass the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning)," Pace declared. "In eleventh and twelfth grade, the students can branch out with electives."

Although students usually don't drop out until the upper grades, they begin to fall behind in the earlier secondary grades and no longer see the relevancy of education, Mt. Rainier small schools co-coordinator Jeanie Angersbach said.

Educators believe small school personalization especially helps minorities and low-income students.

So does that mean the demographics of Mt. Rainier, which draws its students from Des Moines and Normandy Park, is more suited to a comprehensive high school?

Pace replies that the school's demographics are changing. When she came to Mt. Rainier six years ago, only 13 percent of the students qualified for free or reduced price lunches. Now the figure is 45 percent.

Despite the economic shift, WASL scores have increased by 20 percent, Pace reports.

Enrollment in International Baccalaureate (IB) classes has also increased with no decline in IB test scores, she adds. IB is an honors curriculum that prepares students to take stringent IB tests.

University of Washington admissions officials have also rated the school at the top of the scale in getting students ready for college, according to Pace. Mt. Rainier students have also maintained solid grade-point averages at the UW, she said.

Mt. Rainier staff members have encouraged students performing at or above grade level to take advanced classes.

That sparked controversy earlier this school year when some parents and students complained to the school board that academic rigor had suffered in ninth-grade honors classes.

The principal said the concept of mixed-ability classes was new to many parents, but after seeing the program and talking to teachers, "parents have accepted that it can work."

Pace also noted Mt. Rainier has "phenomenal programs" that can take a high school student performing in a subject at fourth-grade level and bring him up to grade level in a short time.

Angersbach adds, "In reality, classes have always been mixed."

Teachers have adapted class content to the various abilities of students, Pace added.

All Mt. Rainier teachers have been offered training in teaching IB classes.

"We are trying to push the students outside their comfort level," Angersbach noted. "We are underselling students if we don't challenge them, and put more relevancy into the classroom. We must have trust in the kids."

Pace also said she hasn't considered whether parents from other schools might transfer their children to Mt. Rainier because it is keeping the more familiar comprehensive model.

Transfer requests have remained steady, she added. The interim site at Olympic is not over capacity. The new building, set to open in Sept. 2007, will house 1,500 students.

Meanwhile, Mt. Rainier students, who will be in ninth and tenth grade next year, are picking their academies. An informational meeting for current eighth grade students and their parents was held March 29.

Luckily, the choices evened out so all students should receive their first pick, Angersbach reported.

The S.T.A.R. School has room for 120 students. S.T.A.R. stands for Society, Thinkers, Actors, authors and artists in action, Rigor, relevance and relationships.

Besides arts, the school will emphasize humanities, according to Pace.

Ninth and tenth graders taking band will be part of the S.T.A.R. academy.

Placement of band within the small schools became a controversial subject at Tyee after Tyee principals suggested band be moveed to an after-school activity next year. A final decision has not been made.

Mt. Rainier's current environmental academy will become part of the School of Global and Environmental Studies. The approximately 90 students will take several field trips to Camp Waskowitz, the district's outdoor education facility near North Bend.

Another 90 students will join Exploration School. The "hands-on" academy will feature wood shop, graphics and technology courses.

According to Pace, core curriculum classes will be taught in all three small schools.

Students will have two opportunities during the year to switch academies.

With teachers receiving additional training, co-coordinator Pam Minkler predicts, "the quality of instruction should be getting even better" in the small schools.

Angersbach characterized the move to personalized education as "fascinating.

"It is a real learning experience for teachers as well as students. When people realize we are trying to educate all students, and it is not a cookie-cutter process, it is hard to argue with."

For reports on small-schools plans at other Highline high schools, log on to www.highlinetimes.com", click on Archives, and choose Advanced Search.

Eric Mathison can be reached at hteditor@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1855.