An UNFIT Contrast in Governance

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Nolan Finley

Radical changes needed for Detroit Public Schools

Some redeeming value might be found in the Detroit Public Schools, which fails to graduate more than two-thirds of the children placed under its care, if the remaining students left high school with a quality education.

But the district fails even those few students who stick it out.

Take a look at what's happening at one school, Osborn High.

In the fall of 2005, 811 freshmen walked in the doors of Osborn in northeast Detroit. By this spring, only 245 of those students were around for graduation. Some of the lost children may have transferred to other Detroit schools. Some may have switched to charter, private or suburban schools. But most of the missing likely dropped out.

Of the 245 survivors, only seven graduated proficient in math. That means that just 1 percent of the class that started at Osborn as freshmen was able to pass the state administered math test.

Other subjects aren't much better -- only 17 students were proficient in science, 18 in language skills, 11 in writing, 33 in reading and 87 in social studies.

No disrespect to those who soldiered on to Graduation Day, but the Osborn student body probably would have absorbed more knowledge lying on the couch at home watching "Jeopardy!" and "Oprah."

In other cities -- New York, Chicago, Denver, to name a few -- such extreme education failure has sparked public outrage, leading to the closing of the worst schools and the opening of the door to dramatic reform. In those other cities, new approaches to education are paying off rather quickly in higher graduation rates and improved test scores.

In Detroit, there's anger, too. But much of it is directed at new school Superintendent Connie Calloway, who in her first year on the job has had the courage to document the district's abysmal performance and to advocate for school models that have proven effective elsewhere in educating urban children.

The school board that hired Calloway is now openly at war with her and aligned with the most destructive elements of the teachers union in trying to undermine her reform agenda.

Calloway wants smaller schools committed to intense individual instruction and staffed by principals and teachers whose jobs depend on delivering a quality education. She wants to move fast so as not to lose another class of Detroit schoolchildren to ignorance and poverty. She believes she can convert all of the high schools to higher performing academies within five years.

That's what Calloway wants. Her board members want jobs and contracts for their friends and family, and they don't want Calloway making waves. And the community whose children are being cheated of their futures doesn't seem to want much of anything at all from its schools.

The only time the community is heard from is when the district tries to close a half-empty school building.

The truth is that even if Calloway enjoyed the enthusiastic support of the board and the community she would face a Herculean job in lifting up the Detroit schools. The district may have reached the point of no return.

Of its 16 middle schools, only five are meeting basic performance standards, as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act. Only five of 27 high schools get a passing grade.

The district does best in its elementary schools, where 68 of 80, or 85 percent, meet acceptable standards.

Maybe the easiest way to fix the district is to allow it to focus on what it does well and take everything else off its plate.

Give the Detroit district responsibility for elementary and preschool education in Detroit and spin off the middle and high schools to private contractors who will be freer to create the new schools Calloway envisions.

That would still leave the district with roughly 60,000 students. And it would give it the help it desperately needs to educate its upper grade children.

The school district could maintain control over the awarding of school charters -- with some oversight from the state to guard against nepotism, favoritism and corruption. (The last thing Detroit needs is a Bobby Ferguson Academy.)

And it ultimately could compete to operate schools itself, if it gets its house in order.

Or maybe there's a better idea for quickly turning around the Detroit system. But it's suicidal not to try something different.

Taxpayers spend $1.5 billion on the Detroit Public Schools. For that investment, they see more Detroit kids going to welfare and prison than to college.

I don't know what to say about a city that tolerates such abuse of its children. Except that this is Detroit, and Detroit is always its own worst enemy.

Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News. Reach him at nfinley@detnews.com or (313) 222-2064. Read his blog at forums.detnews.com/blogs/, and watch him at 8:30 p.m. Fridays on "Am I Right?" on Detroit Public TV, Channel 56. Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News. Reach him at nfinley@detnews.com or (313) 222-2064. Read his blog at forums.detnews.com/blogs/, and watch him at 8:30 p.m. Fridays on "Am I Right?" on Detroit Public TV, Channel 56.


Sunday, August 10, 2008

Editorial

School board, Calloway must settle differences

The Detroit Public Schools could not be more desperate for stable, strong leadership. Yet just one year into Superintendent Connie Calloway's tenure, some school board members and their supporters are trying to build support for her ouster. They are misguided.

Detroit needs Calloway, if for no other reason than she's the best the DPS is going to get. If she's run out of town, no sane superintendent would touch Detroit.

Calloway has some flaws, for sure, and she's learning to handle a district the size of Detroit. But she has a stubborn determination to succeed, she is committed to cleaning up the district's legacy of corruption, and she understands that new models of education must be put in place.

Calloway's critics argue she is a political novice who has failed to work respectfully with key constituencies, including parents. Board members have challenged her communication skills.

She has a responsibility to maintain a better line of communication with the board. The board is her boss, and she has to learn to work with it.

But the board has a responsibility as well. It hired her to improve the district, and its members have to give her a chance to do that.

Everyone should understand that Detroit cannot afford another superintendent switch.

The district is in extreme crisis. Its students are trapped in schools that have the worst drop-out rate in the country. The poor performance is showing up in an enrollment free-fall. More than 10,000 students fled the district last year, and another big drop is expected with classes resume next month.

Education experts say that at best, DPS has two to three years to turn itself around or it will be put out of business by the city's growing community of charter schools. Even the most optimistic analysts say it will take extraordinarily effective and focused leadership to meet the challenge.

If anti-Calloway forces succeed in ousting the superintendent, the school board would need months to replace her. Most likely, another school year would be lost. Now that the Legislature has removed the cap on Detroit charter schools, another year of leadership uncertainty would pretty much finish off the Detroit Public Schools.

Those who are undermining Calloway should set aside their personality conflicts accept that Calloway is their best chance for the district's survival. If they have issues with the way she interacts with them, then address that. But don't use it as an excuse to derail her reform agenda.

The board needs to support major cuts in staff. About 8,500 of the district's 16,000 employees are non-teaching staff, according to the Calloway administration.

Calloway must cut non-teaching positions to balance the district's budget and invest money in classrooms.

The board needs to support her in that, even if it means some of their friends and relatives get about the hard job of remaking failing schools.

If those aren't the school board's priorities as well, than DPS has a problem much bigger than it can solve by dumping Calloway.