Crater High School has received a $1.125 million grant from the Oregon Small Schools Initiative to remake itself into a group of small schools.

The initiative, funded by $15 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and $10 million from the Meyer Memorial Trust, aims to boost student achievement by reforming large, comprehensive high schools.

"We’re absolutely thrilled with this chance to combine their resources with our drive," Crater Principal Kirk Gibson said. "We always take a hard look at how to do the best for kids. Now we have the resources to address the needs we saw."

Crater wants to build on its schools-within-a-school program that has been in place for 14 years. That program groups students with similar interests into integrated, half-day classes and provides them with internships in the community. It has schools of business, social services and ecology for juniors and seniors, and a core-curriculum program for underclassmen.

Gibson said that the schools-within-a-school program, originally designed to help connect small groups of kids and teachers and make classes relevant, matches OSSI’s goals and should help the school community understand the pending transition.

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However, he said, Crater leaders have decided to study all small-school models before deciding how they want their transformed school to look.

They will spend next year researching small schools around the country and planning Crater’s own changes, he said. All its small schools — each with 400 or fewer students — must be open by 2009. Officials haven’t decided whether to open the small schools in phases or all at once, Gibson said.

The grant money, distributed over four years, can pay for training and study tours to example schools, but all changes made must be funded by the district and sustainable, OSSI Director Karen Phillips said.

Crater and two Portland high schools received the grants Tuesday in the second and final round of awards by OSSI. The two others, Roosevelt and Madison, both applied for grants in the first round but were denied last year.

Phillips said 50 high schools statewide met eligibility requirements for the grants awarded this week. To be eligible schools must have more than 700 students and a significant percentage of students who are poor or minorities.

Ten schools applied, and seven were chosen as finalists and visited by a selection committee, she said. Although the initiative initially planned to fund four schools in this round, only three were deemed ready, she said.

"We looked for commitment and readiness in their practices to show that they could adopt and sustain these changes," Phillips said.

Last April, eight schools, including North and South Medford high schools, received money for such a transformation. Four other schools, including Eagle Point High School, got funds to start new small schools in September and more grants for that type of change will be awarded this fall.

Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail aburke@mailtribune.com.