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9486 in the collection
Los Angeles Sets School-Rescue Program
Ohanian Comment: Where the outrage lies is definitely in the eye of the beholder. It just seems odd to me that Villaraigosa's "effort" is never named: Partnership for Los Angesles Schools, which is headed by the former President and COO of Green Dot Public Schools; the COO has background in a global management consulting firm; the superintendent of instruction graduated as a Fellow in the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy. And so on.
The Partnership promises no excuses, high expectations, a rigorous curriculum, an end to social promotion, school uniforms. They also promise to bring back the arts and PE. You can see the promises laid out here.
I'd like to see some evidence that the Mayor's team is addressing the issues of poverty and community organizing as well as moving in people expert in scripted curricula.
By Gabriel Kahn
LOS ANGELES -- As school kicks off this week here, so does Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's effort to salvage the city's public education system by giving parents more control over who runs their children's schools.
Last school year, parents and teachers at 17 elementary, middle and high schools, including some of the city's worst, were asked to choose whether they wanted the Los Angeles Unified School District to continue running their schools or turn over control to a new partnership created by Mr. Villaraigosa. Ten schools -- serving 18,000 students -- voted for the partnership and will open this fall under new management.
For years, Los Angeles parents seeking better options for their children were often compelled to flee the traditional public education system for charter or private schools. Some reformers argued that parents voting with their feet would force schools to clean up their act. Others claim it led to mass defections of talented students, while those left behind languished in schools depleted of their most vibrant elements.
In 2004, only 19% of seventh graders in the city's traditional public schools could meet the state's minimum proficiency in math; that number improved to 28% last year. With almost 700,000 students, second only to New York City, overcrowding is some of the worst in the nation, as is teacher turnover.
If the mayor can get more parents to choose new management at public schools, the argument goes, he can build momentum behind changing the system from within. In a speech Tuesday, Mr. Villaraigosa plans to lay out a broad set of criteria for how city schools will be graded, looking at factors such as attendance, test scores, safety and parent satisfaction.
Mr. Villaraigosa -- considered a potential Democratic candidate for governor in 2010 -- has staked much of his own political capital on making it work. However, he only came to this approach because of a political failure. He initially tried to wrest control of much of the public education system from the school district by concentrating power in the mayor's office, a change made successfully in several other major cities. But state courts thwarted his plan for a top-down overhaul in 2006.
Now, he is trying to make change bubble up from the bottom.
The Los Angeles public school system's bureaucracy has allowed principals little leeway in allocating their budgets. Central control led to a lack of accountability, critics charge, because few principals felt they could stray from a narrowly crafted policy.
"If you wanted to go to the restroom you had to get permission from downtown," said school district Deputy Superintendent Ramon Cortines, who has run public school systems in New York City and elsewhere.
At the schools that will be run by the mayor's partnership, principals have more autonomy in spending their budgets and in deciding how they are going to meet the education goals set out by the mayor. The partnership can choose principals and has a hand in hiring some teachers. Mr. Villaraigosa also has been able to raise private grants that may increase per-student spending.
It remains to be seen how different constituencies will work together. For example, the partnership has tried to increase parent involvement, but parents must now get along with newly empowered principals. And though the schools have more say over hiring new teachers, they still must work within the confines of the 320-page teachers union contract.
What sets Los Angeles's effort apart from past efforts to revitalize schools through new management is that parents and teachers have been asked to vote on the change.
"Allowing communities to choose their own management is novel," said Luis Huerta, a professor of education at Columbia University's Teachers College. But he adds that the real challenge is in demonstrating that new management results in real improvements.
When Mr. Tuck, the partnership's director, began canvassing parents and teachers last fall, he had little to show other than a document outlining what they hoped to achieve in terms of student performance. Some accused him of lacking a serious plan. "We got beaten up a bit," he said. Seven schools voted down the initiative.
But as the vote approached in December, "teachers, parents and community organizations started meeting and talking about reform at the school for the first time," said Ben Gertner, who has taught English at Roosevelt High School for seven years. In the past, he said, "every year there would be a new top-down reform fed to us from the district. It was as if the system were set up to be unresponsive."
For the mayor's initiative to have a broad impact, it will need to expand quickly beyond the initial 10 schools. Los Angeles still lags far behind other large school districts in both resources and results. Mr. Rogers estimates that Los Angeles has on average 40% fewer dollars per student than New York City does. Class size often is in the high 30s, he estimates. Without new funding, Mr. Rogers said, momentum might dissipate quickly.
Some participating schools have nowhere to go but up. At Edwin Markham Middle School in the Watts section, 90% of children tested below proficiency levels for math and English. In March, an assistant principal at the school was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old student.
Write to Gabriel Kahn at gabriel.kahn@wsj.com1
EDUCATIONALLY CHALLENGED
Some data on the Los Angeles Unified School District in 2007:
• 693,597 students: 73% Hispanic, 11% African American, 9% White, 5% Asian. 35% weren't native English speakers.
• High-school graduation rate: 66.4%. Of graduates, 55% enrolled in college or junior college.
• 33% of sixth graders tested above minimum proficiency levels for English; 31% for math.Officials describe the plan as a fusion of education reform and grass-roots democracy. "We're trying to flip it around, saying, choose your management, not your school," said Marshall Tuck, who heads the mayor's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.
— Gabriel Kahn
Wall Street Journal
2008-09-01
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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