One of our key strategies has been to restructure traditional high schools into small learning communities with personalized attention and a range of options.

Menino frames school reform as an organizational redesign rather than a purely curricular fix: breaking large, impersonal high schools into smaller “learning communities” intended to make students better known to adults, reduce anonymity, and improve engagement and outcomes. The emphasis on “personalized attention” suggests a response to common urban-district problems—high dropout rates, uneven achievement, and weak student-adult relationships—by creating tighter structures for advising, mentoring, and monitoring progress. The “range of options” points to differentiated pathways (academies, themes, vocational/college-prep tracks, partnerships) meant to keep students invested and to acknowledge varied goals and learning needs. Overall, the quote argues that scale and choice are levers for equity and effectiveness in public education.