Public school choice: Implications for African American students

Journal of Negro Education, The, Winter 1994 by Peterkin, Robert S, Jackson, Janice E

(9) Coordination--A System of Schools. Careful attention must be paid to the coordination of the goals of controlled choice with the overall reform goals of the district. Much of the research on substantive school reform points to the necessity for moving the decision making closer to those directly affected by the decisions. Given that a public school operates as a part of a larger district, an inherent tension exists between the responsibility of the senior administrators in the central administration to set the vision and direction of the district and the need for building-level leaders to chart the specific direction of their own site. School-sites must be invested with the authority to implement their decisions once made.

Much debate has focused on shared decision making and shared authority. Janice Jackson's experience as coordinator of school-based management for the Milwaukee Public Schools suggests that, without sufficient training and assistance from individuals skilled in collaborative decision making, schools will often find themselves bogged down in issues related to the management and climate of the school rather than curriculum. Malen, Ogawa, and Kranz (1990), in an analysis of documents on site-based management in the U.S., Canada, and Australia, conclude the following:

While site-based management precipitates a wide range of activities, such as student recognition programs, discipline policies, workshops, and newsletters, there is little evidence that it stimulates the development or enhances the implementation of major instructional changes.

Site participants rarely address subjects central to the instructional program in their school council or school committee meetings... (p. 55)

While management issues (e.g., personnel, budget) and school climate are important and must be attended to, they must not become the singular or primary focus of shared decision making. Rather, the focus must be on curricular issues, student achievement, and parental involvement. Given that most educators are trained to work in isolation, it is especially important that controlled choice districts provide sufficient training for parents, teachers, principals, and district-level administrators on shared decision making and new forms of school organization as well as quality staff and curriculum development.

Do STUDENTS REALLY IMPROVE?

Tan's (1990) evaluation of Cambridge's controlled choice program demonstrates that students in that city's public elementary schools showed dramatic academic improvement after implementation of this districtwide initiative. While Tan does not claim that controlled choice directly produced student successes, her evaluation described the following results:

* In 1978-79, 78% of Cambridge's school-age population was attending local public schools. By 1987, that figure was 89%.

,* In 1984-85, 54% of the public elementary students in Cambridge passed all three statewide mandated tests. By 1988, that figure had risen to 87%.

* In 1989-90, 90% of Cambridge's public school parents received their first choice of school assignment; 95% of all parents received one of their top three choices.