For Start-Up Teacher, Jam-Packed Routine

Building Systems on the Go

Baltimore

For 15 minutes starting just after 7 a.m. on a recent Monday, teacher Cheyanne Zahrt stood over a hot copying machine in the Academy for College and Career Exploration, one of five small high schools this city’s school system midwifed starting in 2002.

It was the last time Ms. Zahrt would be alone—or even by herself with a reporter—for more than five minutes over the next 9½ hours. It was to be the kind of day that has become routine for teachers in many of the new small high schools that are fast becoming fixtures of the nation’s big-city districts.

Two girls who had gotten an early ride to school were waiting to trail Ms. Zahrt up two floors to her classroom. Others came to hang out while the biology teacher tapped on one of two classroom computers, hand-printed key points for her lesson on a flip chart—she had lent out her overhead projector because her classroom has no screen—and dispensed snacks as part of a fundraiser...