BURBANK : District to Expand Cluster Program

Burbank Unified School District, after completing a pilot project at John Burroughs High School, is expanding the cluster program, which officials said boosts attendance and reduces student problems.

The clusters are groupings of students who stay together four hours a day.

“This is the way schools are going to be from this time forward,” said Keith Myatt, restructuring coordinator for the school. He has worked for the past 1 1/2 years at building support for the cluster program.

“Why would we expect schools to be static while everything else around us is changing?” Myatt asked.

Both teachers and students worked harder under the pilot program this year, in which 240 ninth- and 10th-graders were grouped into clusters of 30 students each. Each cluster was assigned four teachers to coordinate a core curriculum of math, English, social studies and science.

“A high school is too big to provide a personalized education where the student feels connected to the adults in their life,” Myatt said.

The students may not like the hard work, but “generally they really like the idea that they are in a family,” Myatt said. “They like the idea that their education is being tailored to their needs.”

The high level of coordination to give them an individualized education is more work for teachers, but the cluster program has the support of the teachers’ union and the community, Myatt said.

Statistics presented to the Burbank Unified Board of Education recently showed that clustered students spent an average of four more days in class than other students, were late less often, and had fewer suspensions or referrals to school counselors, Myatt said.

In September, the entire ninth- and tenth-grade classes of about 400 students each will be put in clusters. Ninth-graders will be in a four-hour-a-day cluster program. The rest of the time will be spent in their elective courses.

Tenth-graders will be clustered for English and social science. Some will be clustered in science and math classes as well, Myatt said.

The clustering idea was sparked when John Burroughs applied for a state grant two years ago to pay for a restructuring. The high school did not get the money, but school officials went ahead with the restructuring anyway.

“We’re doing this with no extra money,” Myatt said.