Her worship: cities look for a savior to transform their school systems, but lasting reform takes a sustained, community-wide effort - Forum

Education Next, Winter, 2001 by Paul T. Hill

There is much more to say about a school district's first job, which is to support schools. A good school focuses on teaching and lets nothing get in the way. It considers itself responsible for whether children succeed and does not pursue a method just because it worked in the past or because teachers like it, A good school is not responsive to every whiff of pressure from the outside. It has its own core values and commitments and can initiate action to sustain itself over time. Schools like this need a district environment that provides:

* The freedom to choose their staff. Schools need to be able to select people who have the skills they need and who buy in to the school's mission and approach to instruction. Not every highly qualified teacher or administrator is prepared to work as a full partner in every type of school. Schools that are forced to employ people who do not fit cannot remain focused and coherent.

* Access to competent teachers and administrators. Schools need to be able to draw from a pool of individuals who can lead and teach. This pool must be broad enough to allow schools to find individuals who fit their particular needs. Schools in areas where few good people are available--or where the pool is arbitrarily constrained by unproductive training or certification requirements--have trouble delivering quality instruction.

* The freedom to reconfigure programs and spending. Schools need to be able to adapt to changes in student needs and to take advantage of opportunities to learn about better approaches to instruction. They also need freedom to reconfigure staffing to minimize unproductive expenditures and to make capital-labor trade-offs--for example, in favor of materials and technology that enhance student learning.

* The freedom to make candid agreements with families. Schools must be able to articulate what students will experience and how they will benefit. Schools should not be required to serve families who want something quite different from what the school has promised. Schools that are forced to be all things to all people have great difficulty following a defined theory of teaching and learning and cannot ensure that all students will learn everything intended.

* The freedom for school leaders and parents that comes from families being able to choose their schools. Schools that must serve students and families who don't buy into their pedagogical strategies cannot run a focused instructional program or make reliable promises about how children will be taught. Choice makes it unnecessary for parents who dislike a school's instructional program to fight the parents and teachers for whom the program works. They can just remove their child and send him to a different school. It also rewards schools that can say clearly how they will teach and what children will learn.

* Access to a variety of ideas, assistance, and materials. Few schools run entirely on the ideas and knowledge of the people they currently employ. Virtually all need ideas, advice, and help solving problems. Sometimes help is needed to learn how to meet the distinctive needs of the current generation of students. Sometimes schools need help using new methods and technology. Schools that are denied access to help--or that are constrained to accept whatever is offered by a monopoly supplier--cannot always solve problems or exploit opportunities.