The Lawrence, Massachusetts school system was one of the most chronically poorly performing districts in the state on math, reading, graduation rates and other measures. Under a new state law, the district was put into receivership in 2011. A state-appointed receiver, a leading Massachusetts educator, replaced the board and the superintendent for 3 years (now extended to 6 years) and was given authority to make significant changes in structure, personnel policies, length of school day and other areas. The turnaround plan contains dozens of major reforms. Among those are:

• Shifting of authority from the central office to schools, with commensurate accountability based on a school’s ability to demonstrate performance
• Replacement of ineffective teachers and principals based on performance evaluation
• Longer school days in grades 1 through 8 and longer school years for 9th graders
• Partnerships with outside educational consultants

The receiver cut the central office staff by one-third, brought in charter school operators to take over some of the most poorly performing schools, encouraged schools to develop their own unique programs based on students’ needs, and engaged parents’ help with the schools.

The plan encourages continuous improvement by building a culture of high expectations. There are many more aspects. It is a “different model” in the words of the receiver, not business as usual. There are, of course, stresses as there are in any major change effort, including union relations.

After two years (this year’s data are not in) evaluators and the state are encouraged by the progress of the Lawrence district. Graduation rates are up and dropouts are down; test scores in math and language are up.
Everyone agrees that there is plenty more work to do, but there is a clear direction.

Sources: WBUR, Boston’s NPR Station (3/12/14); The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune (6/8/15); The New York Times (6/7/15)

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• District officials say they are doing better, that they have “turned the corner.” Is it true or is it spin?
• If better, is it in a few areas or all areas, and is it enough improvement to matter?
• Is anything being done that will turn the district around in a major way? Will the new board make a difference?

As 2014 comes to an end, here is our viewpoint. Regaining provisional accreditation was a gain, and we congratulate the staff and board for their hard work. A careful examination of the data, however, indicates that provisional accreditation is more a political victory than an academic one. When grading school districts, a number of factors are taken into account by the State Board of Education. Some of these, such as attendance, graduation rate and college readiness, account for a large part of the district’s scores but say little about whether students are learning what they need to learn to be successful after graduation. There are some gains and some losses in academic achievement. Points toward accreditation were earned in part by special tutoring given to a select subgroup of students who were close to the next achievement category. How about the rest? We are attempting to obtain those data. Experienced teachers tell us that improved test scores gained by teaching to the test are unlikely to stick.

In an earlier posting we listed a series of challenges to the board and suggested that dealing with these challenges depends on the board’s willingness to deal with tough issues. How are they doing on these challenges? Our assessment:

1. Be bold…start asking tough questions. We hope some tough questions are being asked in settings other than public board meetings because although we have heard some, we have not heard enough. The toughest question: What is different in the classrooms?

2. Demand a focus on real student learning rather than accreditation points. The district statements we hear focus on regaining provisional accreditation and the progress that is supposed to indicate. What plans are there for moving student achievement to the level of other successful urban districts? What is the district plan for middle and high school students who are presently underachieving?

3. Come to grips with the elephant in the (classroom). Major studies such as Building Teacher Quality in the Kansas City, Missouri School District by the National Council on Teacher Quality state that successful classroom performance requires clear standards for teacher performance and a system for recognizing and rewarding good teaching and dealing with poor teacher performance. Saying that we are “offering professional development courses” is not an answer. Do evaluations reflect student performance? Are teachers evaluated monthly? Quarterly? Are evaluators trained? Do evaluations impact future employment and compensation? Is the district recruiting teachers from top level universities? Teacher attendance was an issue raised in the NCTQ study. Does this continue to be a problem and has tracking teacher attendance improved?

4. Find out what programs have the highest payoff for student achievement.
We are glad to see more effort to develop early childhood programs. They need to be rigorous preparation for successful academic careers. We need to assure that at risk children do not enter kindergarten two years behind their peers.

5. Insist on school board meetings that convey a professional image, deal with the real issues, and provide data to the public…instead of spin. This is an area that has drawn our attention. We are hearing complaints about lack of transparency, trust, accountability and possible violations of Missouri sunshine laws caused by, for example, frequently closing the 5:00 p.m. board business sessions, not publicly posting advance meeting notices, and avoiding disclosure of voting by showing decisions in the closed meeting minutes as made by consensus. This is curious behavior by an organization striving to gain public trust. We will have more to say about this issue.

6. Don’t accept the excuse that scores are low because many of the district’s students are “at risk”. The community is counting on you to challenge this excuse.

Now that possible changes in governance and intervention by outside bodies have been fended off politically, at least for the present, the responsibility clearly lies with the district to formulate and implement a bold turnaround plan. Some in the community are glad to get the school district out of the press and to settle for the claim that they seem to be doing a little better. However, we sense a growing consensus that there is not an actual turnaround, and we wonder if there truly is a bold plan to develop one.

Our Challenge to the Community:

We challenge the citizens of Kansas City not to ignore the students of Kansas City Public Schools and to insist that every child in every classroom receives an education that will equip them with skills needed for post high school training, college and careers.  It is up to the community to pay attention, be informed and hold the district accountable.

As Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro recently said, “Somebody has to stand up and say, ‘It’s not OK'” that too many children are failing.  Kansas City students matter, regardless of where they live and their circumstances. 

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1. Be bold. Your job is not to appease the administration but to track their performance and hold them accountable. Establish feedback systems that regularly tell you the performance on crucial variables. Stop being intimidated by accusations of meddling and start asking tough questions like, “Why are we still using so many temporary substitute teachers?” Remember, the board “owns” the district, and you are ultimately accountable.
2. Demand a focus on real student learning rather than just gaining accreditation points. Accreditation should be a by-product of effective performance. Examine the MSIP standards to understand what goes into the scores for College and Career Readiness, Attendance, and Graduation Rate—none of which is a direct indicator of student learning. Yet these factors account for most of the district’s claims of “progress” for provisional accreditation. For example, College Readiness includes elements like number of certain courses offered regardless of enrollment. Compare ACT scores (among the lowest in the state) as indicators of college readiness. Questions to ask: What are the essential qualities of a high performing public school system? What matters, not for adults, but for our students’ futures?
3. Come to grips with the elephant in the (class)room. Virtually every major study on turnaround in public education rates classroom performance as the number one priority. The issue that no one wants to deal with is that while we have some great teachers and some who are doing just okay, we also have teachers who are not bringing about learning and are “breaking little souls” (as one of our mentors put it) with their abusive behavior. Yet consequences are rare, and all teachers receive the same rewards. Do not allow the myth to continue that nothing can be done about this. Unless you deal with this problem, student learning is not going to improve significantly. For example, district data show the gains of the “threshold” students tagged for special tutoring in grades 4-8 account for most of the small gains in student achievement; there is very little overall gain due to classroom instruction. (See “Building Teacher Quality in the Kansas City, Missouri School District” by the National Council on Teacher Quality: www.nctq.org)
4. Find out from the experts what programs have the highest payoff for student achievement, i.e. rigorous preschool, longer school days and longer school years. Shift resources from lower payoff programs to these. Be tough.
5. Insist on school board meetings that convey a professional image, deal with the real issues, and provide data to the public instead of public relations presentations aimed at creating a positive spin.
6. Don’t accept the excuse that scores are low because many of the district’s kids are “at risk”. It is being proven all around the country and the world that with the right teachers and the right culture students from high poverty backgrounds can learn.

In spite of the PR hyperbole, the district is in dire straits—enrollment is falling, students are likely to continue to transfer, way too many students are graduating who cannot read and do math, good teachers are getting discouraged and leaving, and public confidence is low (7% turn out to vote). We need a comprehensive plan for reform, with priorities. No excuses. Let’s get at it!

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Sadly, I was right.”

Read more here: http://billtammeus.typepad.com/my_weblog/2014/04/4-9-14.html

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – It’s shaping up to be an important spring for the 15,000 students who are trapped in the dysfunctional and chronically failing Kansas City Public Schools.

The Missouri State Board of Education – the body charged with setting the state’s K-12 policies – could soon announce a new plan for overhauling schools in districts that have lost state accreditation. As things stand now, the unaccredited KCPS would be the first district affected by the new policies.

http://eagnews.org/missouri-leaders-considering-revolutionary-plan-for-fixing-chronically-failing-kansas-city-school-district/

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What you probably don’t know is the long backstory on this which exposes it for the farce that it is.

You’d think by the tone of their statements that the allegedly controversial meetings on the ballot initiative were only recently revealed to these unions. After all, if they’re so far out of line, it would make sense that the unions would cry foul right away. Turns out, however, that the unions have had them since early May.

So why would they wait nearly half a year before saying anything? Because they had a lot of issues to hang over Dr. Nicastro’s head over the last six months.”

Finish reading on Rep. Jay Barnes’ website

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The St. Louis School District situation is certainly not commonly considered a huge success story. However, this article indicates that the power to terminate poorly performing teachers and principals was critical to turning their situation around. Perhaps our legislature will recognize the lessons of this intervention by the State of Missouri and pass a bill soon to benefit the children of Kansas City.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324595904578119032696263060.html

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http://www.aasaconnect.com/index.php?bid=33&id=67

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Geoffrey Canada was the keynote speaker recently at a benefit luncheon for Kansas City Freedom Schools, “Saving Kansas City’s Sixth Child – a Recommitment to Reaching and Teaching the Children Left Behind.” A nationally known advocate for education reform, Mr. Canada is founder of The Harlem Children’s Zone. He is also a poet whose poems particularly speak to us in Kansas City to the responsibility of each of us to all of our children.

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