Is there more to school reform than student achievement? Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso would say no. (And echoing him is Education Sector's Rob Manwaring.) Responding to the latest Fordham report, America's Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform and Baltimore's subsequent grade of C and rank of 17 (of 26 cities), he queries: ?If outcomes aren't part of the reform story, then why bother??
It's a good question, from a great superintendent, but misguided. He's right that the report does not look at achievement data or graduation rates. Instead, we rank cities based on ?reform-friendliness,? or how welcoming they (30 major U.S. cities) are to ?nontraditional? purveyors of education, such as alternative certification programs, charter schools, and educational software developers. It's based on the premise that a bulky calcified bureaucracy?namely the school district?is not going to revolutionize its own practices without some outside help. And that's what we need: a revolution. Tinkering around the edges with this program or that, or relying on the bold leadership of one reformer or another, is simply not enough. In other words, we're ranking long-term climate. Which cities are creating an ecosystem of reform today that will propel the city's schools forward tomorrow?
That question is a far cry from asking how students are doing today on standardized tests. Yes, test scores and graduation rates are important metrics to gauge whether reform is working, but how do we create a climate that gets reform going in the first place? And what happens after the next election cycle? What happens when today's program is overthrown for a new one tomorrow? Our report is based on leading indicators?and we predict (though cannot prove) that over time, cities that do well by them will see student achievement rise, too.
Evaluating climate is not a new approach. It's used by the World Bank, for example, when it ranks countries on their economic competitiveness. Businesses looking to expand to a new locale aren't just concerned with a country's current GDP or unemployment rates, which rise and fall annually, even quarterly. Instead, they look at conditions for future prosperity or success, such as how many days it takes to legally open a business and how complicated is the country's tax code. We ask a similar question when we query the efficiency and effectiveness of a district's procurement office or how much sway the local teachers' union might hold over district decisions. After all, if it takes months for a nontraditional provider to secure a contract, or if they have to expend resources fighting to even get a foothold in the city's schools, a provider might find be forced to look elsewhere for simple reasons of financially unsustainability.
Instead of taking Baltimore's C to mean ?Don't go there. It's easier somewhere else!? as Alonso claims our report does, Baltimore's pupils would be better served if Charm City reformers, Alonso included, said to themselves, ?Baltimore makes it hard for problem solvers to enter our education market in the following ways. What can we do to fix them??
And that effort is surely worth the bother.
?Stafford Palmieri
