When D'Alessandro hired her, Evans had been at Brown University studying different philosophies of teaching and learning, as well as working to turn around failing high schools.

Evans says her task is similar at CRLS: to raise expectations across the board and to focus on challenging and getting to know students.

"We're about changing the culture of the school for the adults and the kids," she says. "That's the long haul. Can we stick with it and not burn out?"

"We cannot have a comprehensive high school with a huge smorgasbord of courses," she adds.

Evans says redesign comes with tradeoffs, like fewer elective classes, to ensure smaller class sizes for core subjects like English and social studies and more time for teachers to talk with each other about curriculum and students who are struggling.

A central theme of the redesign is to have each student become well-known by at least one teacher. Evans says small schools are needed in order for that to occur.

"You can't do that with 2,000 kids in the building just hanging out," she says. "You've got to break it up."