The next few weeks are going to be busy with public hearings on several education bills. One bill being considered by the DC Council July 9 is the “Individual School Accountability Act of 2013.” This would authorize the Chancellor to take more aggressive actions to turn around low-performing DC public schools.
The bill requires the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to establish a new local performance framework to assess DC public schools. If schools do not meet the set standards, they would be viewed as “underperforming.” And if they stay in this category for two years in a row, the DCPS Chancellor would be able to choose from two reform options:
Option 1: Create a turnaround plan for the school. This plan, developed with the help of a stakeholder group (including teachers, administrators, and parents), would allow schools to alter their resources. Possible actions include reallocation of the individual school budget, additional funding from DCPS, requiring all school staff and leadership to reapply for their positions, expansion of the school day or year, and an expanded curriculum.
Option 2: Designate the school as a “DCPS Innovation School.” An Innovation School would be open to all DC residents and funded the same way as other DCPS schools, but would be able to receive additional private/public funds, partner with private organizations, and establish its own curriculum, budget, and staffing policies. It would be exempt of provisions of a collective bargaining agreement if a majority of unionized school employees agree. It would also be exempt from certain local regulations.
The innovation schools approach has been tried elsewhere, and results have been mixed. Waiving local rules and converting schools did not necessarily translate into better outcomes for innovation schools in Colorado, where a similar model was implemented in 2008. Evaluations show that school leaders valued their ability to align spending to meet their students’ needs, but there was considerable turnover among principals and teachers and not much evidence of test score improvement.
How will the community be involved in developing a vision for success? School principals and teachers also need to buy into the idea of what best practices should be implemented if they do have more autonomy over their budgets and how success will be measured. Test scores will certainly be a performance measure, but school success should be also be based on a range of factors, such as teacher quality, principal leadership, student perceptions, and parent involvement.
The question remains — is this approach to reform the right way for DC or is there another solution?
Make your voice heard – the public hearing on four education bills, including the school accountability bill, will take place on Tuesday, July 9th, at 9:00 a.m. in Room 500. Please sign up to testify by July 5 by emailing jjordan@dccouncil.us.
