Notes from the Field
Submitted by Frank Murphy on December 6, 2011
In the last two years, several Philadelphia District schools have either been converted to charter schools operated by outside providers, or have been converted to Promise Academies, the District’s internally-managed school turnaround strategy. As a result of this reorganization, the overall operation of the school district has been significantly impacted. Yet little public scrutiny has been given to the consequences of these changes.
Media attention during the last year has targeted the financial woes, leadership turmoil and businesses dealings of the School District of Philadelphia. The resulting news coverage narrowly focused on the shortcomings of the people involved in administering the District’s affairs. This has left little room for an in-depth consideration of the value or effectiveness of the District’s strategic plan to turn around many of its schools.
This turn around school reform tactic has been a costly financial and social endeavor. The preexisting social networks of the targeted school communities were ignored and discounted as these schools were reconstituted. Numerous teachers were removed from the schools that were turned over to outside education management organizations or converted to Promise Academies. Many of these teachers had maintained long and positive associations with the families serviced by their schools. These teachers were the glue that held together school communities fractured by the relentless impact of poverty. They are the people who have dedicated years of their lives to serving the most fragile children in our society. By doing so they had become trusted and respected members of there school communities.
As the Renaissance School initiative moved forward, the staffing of schools all across the District was also adversely affected. A flood of forced transferred teachers created a chain reaction of teacher reassignments. Teachers with the least amount of district seniority were bumped from their positions as more experienced teachers were reassigned to their schools. Teacher teams were broken up and younger teachers, who were just starting to establish a firm footing in their classrooms, found themselves uprooted or worse yet, terminated from their positions. Looking at this reform effort just from the limited perspective of school staffing, it is hard to miss how much it has affected the operation of our city’s schools. When other factors are considered such as the drain on District finances, the negative impact on student and teacher morale and the serious blow to the credibility of the School Reform Commission that was created by this endeavor, it is clear that it has been a radically disruptive strategy.
Thomas Darden, the Deputy Chief of Strategic Programs for the School District, has stated that it is uncertain whether the District will engage in another round of school turnaround in the 2012 school year. The process for matching schools with outside providers is a lengthy one. In prior years the district started to identify schools that would be targeted for turnaround, issued a request for qualifications from outside providers and began to organize School Advisory Councils in schools that might be affected by the Renaissance School process earlier in the school year. So far this has not happened and there is little time left in this school year to successfully accomplish these tasks. At this point it would make sense to avoid hastily rushing ahead with this process.
The massive layoff of teachers that preceded the start of the current school year wreaked untold havoc upon our city’s schools. At this moment schools are facing the possibility of additional layoffs this January, as school budgets have been cut once more. A distinct possibility exists that staffing reductions will be necessary again next year in order to close the District’s continuing budget deficit. Additionally, the proposal to close nine District schools in 2012 will create even more staffing disruptions. With so many immediate pressing issues, it would seem to make sense that the SRC shouldn’t create even greater upheaval by reconstituting more schools in 2012.
Both of these turnaround models have required a level of funding that exceeds that which is provided to the other schools in the District. In a district that suffers a serious structural deficit, finding the funds to continue this initiative presents a serious challenge. Allocating additional funds in order to expand this project is unrealistic in the current austere economic environment faced by the district, city, state and federal government. The members of the School Reform Commission should resolve the financial crisis they now face before approving any additional expenditure on Renaissance Schools.
It is the moral obligation of the School Reform Commission to ensure a fair and equitable education for the children in their charge. Continuing to pursue a costly and disruptive reform strategy that reduces resources at most district schools, while increasing assistance to a few schools, does not meet this obligation.
Further, the reduction of close to 50% of the School District’s central office staff certainly has reduced its capacity to responsibly and effectively evaluate and manage District business and initiatives. It is unreasonable to expect that this shrunken staff can oversee the continuous expansion of the Renaissance School process.
Halting the conversion of any additional public schools to charters and Promise Academies will provide a much-needed opportunity to conduct a thorough review of the effects of these school conversions on student achievement. Determining the success or failure of these two distinctive turnaround school strategies should be based upon a rigorous examination of multiple years of relevant data. Test scores and climate information for several years before the takeover of these schools should be included in any analysis of their progress or lack thereof. Historical context is important for comparative purposes. Even more importantly, future years of data should be analyzed before declaring this school turnaround experiment a success.
One year’s worth of data hardly provides enough information in to make an informed decision. An informed decision is exactly what a responsive and responsible School Reform Commission should make in determining whether the Renaissance School turnaround process is a strategy worthy of future pursuit.