What Our Schools Must Accomplish
The first step in placing DC’s public schools on a new path must be to establish explicit annual and long-term goals for improving student achievement and graduation rates. Numerous improvements in the management and operations of our schools will then be necessary to realize the goals and, thus, to escape the trap of recurring failure in which the system is now mired.
Superintendent Janey has instituted a number of worthwhile reforms in the past two years as part of a Master Education Plan. Unfortunately, we are not yet seeing the improvements in educational outcomes that will be the ultimate measure of success. There must be a new sense of urgency to act on a variety of fronts to turn the DC school system around:
• Provide teachers and principals with an environment in which they can succeed. We
need to create a covenant with instructors and with the people who manage our
schools. We will assure that class sizes are appropriate, that sufficient instructional
supplies and teacher’s aides are available, and that teachers have access to ongoing
training.
With that foundation in place, we should then expect accountability for the instructional
results that are achieved. A system that expects excellence – and that provides the
resources to achieve it – will be able to attract and retain the most committed and
talented professionals.
• Increase attention and resources to improve learning at critical junctures. We
should enhance early learning for at-risk children by expanding school readiness
programs; extending pre-school efforts into the initial school years; and doing more
to help parents prepare their children to succeed. For older students, additional
academically demanding and advanced placement courses should be available –
to challenge and better prepare them to compete for employment and for positions
in colleges and universities.
• Insist that the central administration for the school system provide basic support
functions for our schools effectively. Such routine activities as the purchase of
supplies, school maintenance, student transportation and school-based meals should
be just that – routine. Periodic crises in these areas drain from administrators,
teachers and parents the attention that they should be devoting to the core
instructional mission of the schools.
Where the central administration is unable to provide needed support appropriately,
alternatives should be urgently explored – either through other arms of the DC
government or from private contractors.
As part of this process, we should move immediately to shift from the Board of Education and the superintendent responsibility for managing the years-long reconstruction or replacement of our aging schools. This massive undertaking should be placed in the hands of an alternative arm of the District’s government – or a new entity – which would have the necessary expertise. Our school’s leaders should not be distracted by the demands of this complex task, for which their background does not equip them. Instead, they should focus all their attention on their core mission – laying a sound educational groundwork for the future of DC’s children.
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