[an error occurred while processing this directive]

LATEST SUBMISSIONS

Closures identified: critical next steps for DPS

Thursday, November 1 at 12:20 PM

This Speakout has not been edited.

By Paul Teske

Denver Public Schools leaders are addressing the monumental challenge of turning the lagging urban district into a high performer. After months of anticipation, the wrecking ball finally dropped on October 1, but with only 8 DPS schools scheduled to be closed, not the whopping 30-40 thought to be on the chopping block. The Board of Education still has to make the up/down determination on the full package, in November, based upon community input. The reduced scale of closures was partly the result of the district’s ability to place the students in closing schools into better, or at least no worse, options. Unfortunately, as in many urban districts, there is now a shortage of high quality options.

So, the next, even more important, phase for DPS under Michael Bennet’s leadership needs to focus on creating better schools, both new ones and conversions of existing schools. On balance, national evidence favors the creation of new schools, as better able to create a new culture from scratch, rather than tinkering at the margins.

How should DPS create or re-constitute good schools? The research known as effective schools” emphasizes a few key points, and it has the added benefits of matching common sense, as well as research on effective organizations beyond education.

First, schools need strong leadership (especially a good principal), which DPS is beginning to address by focusing on training and supporting their own excellent principals. This may be the most fundamental task for the district, and doing it well will greatly aid the achievement of these other, following goals.

Second, schools need considerable autonomy (so that the principal can pick the staff s/he wants and lead them appropriately), which is a bit of a chicken/egg dilemma for DPS, because you first need principals trained to utilize that autonomy positively. But, once that mutual trust is established, there is no reason not to give principals more authority to hire staff, more control over the use of their budgets, and the ability to provide incentives and rewards for high performance, in return for accountability for improved outcomes.

Third, schools need a mission or thematic consistency. It may matter less what that is precisely - Montessori, back to basics, Core Knowledge, whatever - than that the mission is believed, shared and lived by leaders, teachers, students, and parents in that school. While the consistency of The Denver Plan for instruction is important in a district with high student mobility, it must also allow enough flexibility and wraparound for schools to maintain their own focus.

Fourth, schools need to be safe and orderly environments for learning. This should perhaps be number one on this list, as it is a fundamental element in urban districts, but DPS has a fairly good record, compared to other cities, on this dimension, that needs to be maintained and improved.

Fifth, there must be adequate time on task and useful feedback loops, so that teachers know in real time what is working with students and what needs more attention. The assessments in The Denver Plan help achieve this, but implementing it well across all schools is no easy task.

Finally, the schools must inculcate a sense of high expectations, not just rhetoric and symbols, but a daily commitment. Principals set this tone within schools, and, for example, Rob Stein and Manual are off to a good start in this regard, which needs to become the norm.

These elements of effective schools may seem obvious, but in urban districts they are rarely implemented well, and when they are it usually flows from strong principals. Implementation can be particularly hard when districts are constrained by rules or agreements that limit their flexibility and the autonomy needed at the school level. While they can change some of this internally, DPS will need some help in freeing up some existing rules, regulations, and practices to give principals true autonomy, to hire and establish their own staff, to direct them with flexibility in terms of time and teaching ideas, and to fully implement their missions. Such help might need to come from the State Board of Education, state legislature, unions, and others.

While the challenge is formidable, DPS has valuable assets to assist them in their transformation. They have strong support from city leaders like Mayor Hickenlooper, from a School Board that is united on promoting quality, and from community groups like A+ Denver, various parent and neighborhood groups, and local foundations, actors that play a critical role in both fomenting change and monitoring results. The pension problem, an anchor holding the district back on many dimensions, might be re-financed, to free up some funds for educational purposes. DPS is well into the implementation of ProComp, the innovative teacher pay plan that rewards demonstrated good teaching financially, which is starting to show some positive results in terms of attracting and retaining top teachers to teach in difficult schools. Bennet has put together a strong leadership team to implement these ideas, including an RFP process to solicit, approve, and oversee proposals for improved schools. If the creation and re-constitution of new schools can be handled as deftly as the closures, Denver can look forward to the stronger public school system it needs.

Paul Teske is professor and director of the Center for Education Policy Analysis at the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver.

READER COMMENTS

Interesting, We all learn from history or at least we try too. We all know that history is always written by the winners. Great opinion and I respect that. After the Parade do you protesters then organize to march on the Denver civic center to protest Christmas?? After that do we look for more Mexicans to round up or shall we find sturdy trees to hang all the rest of the people who are not afraid to speak their opinions?

Posted by Dave Navarro on November 4, 2007 01:07 PM

Posted by Dave Navarro on November 4, 2007 01:03 PM