CENTRAL POINT — After a year of researching and envisioning a revitalized Crater High School, District 6 administrators and faculty are set to begin creating four small "theme" schools to debut in fall 2007.

They've been from Ohio to California and have a slew of ideas on how they hope to provide more specialized education at the district's only high school.

Crater was among eight schools, including Medford's two public high schools, chosen for the first year of f unding from the $25 million Oregon Small Schools Initiative by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Meyer Memorial Trust. The program hopes to boost student achievement by reforming large, comprehensive high schools into smaller cluster schools.

North and South Medford high schools begin this fall with freshmen academies. Crater, with its $1.125 million grant, spent the past year visiting established small-school programs around the country and gathering community and student input.

Having already seen notable success with Crater's existing schools-within-a-school program, in place now for some 15 years, teachers and administrators are enthusiastic about going to the next level, said Samantha Steele, District 6 director of education.

Crater currently offers schools of business, social services and ecology for juniors and seniors, and a core-curriculum program for underclassmen.

Beginning in fall 2007, Crater will be organized into four schools of between 350 and 400 students.

Crater High Principal Kirk Gibson said, while the structure of the school day will change considerably under the small schools setup, students in all four schools would continue to have access to electives and advanced classes.

Gibson said the district's primary goals in switching to small schools include producing students who succeed in a post-secondary world and continually auditing the community's perception of Crater.

"What we've heard is that we have really nice kids," Gibson said. "But we need to push those kids harder academically. The small schools will provide us the tools we need to do that."

"In a nutshell, we want our graduates to be better prepared for college, work and citizenship," Steele said.

Crater OSSI Grant Coordinator Bob King said small schools would strive to improve students' chances for success, reduce dropout rates and improve teacher-student connections.

King said teachers and administrators are "so inspired by what small schools is doing" that countless hours have been put in to make the transition a success.

"I've had more fun here than I've had in 20-plus years," King said. "I think people are excited again about an opportunity to maybe take each kid a little bit further. This will, professionally, allow people to challenge themselves and be part of something new and exciting. They'll have more chances to make a difference."

On the Web:Crater Small Schools information: www.cratercomets.com/smallschools/index.htmlOregon Small Schools Initiative: e3smallschools.org

Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at buffypollock@juno.com.