Gov. Nathan Deal’s suggestion to set up a statewide school district to turn around Georgia’s worst schools is getting a lot of pushback from the typical status-quo crowd. One of the most recent attacks comes from Jim Arnold, school superintendent-turned-blogger, who highlights Louisiana’s poor overall educational record as a way to dismiss one of the things they’re doing right.
A better approach is to take the best ideas and best programs from any place we can find them and adapt those ideas to our system. His only direct shot at Louisiana’s Recovery School District is that he claims it is one of the lowest-performing districts in the state.
I’m not sure which measure he’s looking at to make that claim, but the facts don’t bear that out. In New Orleans, the recovery district runs nearly 80 percent of the schools in the city (75 of 95 public schools). Now consider that the graduation rate for students in New Orleans exceeds the average graduation rate for the state, and it’s clear the district is making a significant impact. Remember, these are kids from some of the worst-performing schools in the state, the bottom 5 percent, and now their graduation rate is better than the state’s average.
I would also point out the district’s tremendous growth, not just the raw achievement scores. Since 2005, the proportion of New Orleans students attending a failing school has dropped from 62 percent to just 5 percent, and the proportion of 8th graders performing at grade level has climbed from a devastating 28 percent to 67 percent, just one point below the state’s average. While 67 percent still isn’t where we want to see it, it’s a huge jump in the right direction.
The success Louisiana’s Recovery School District is making is undeniable. Anyone who says otherwise is ignoring the facts or intentionally trying to cloud the issue. And it is only one example of a state where it is working. While much earlier in the process, Virginia, Michigan and Tennessee have recently adopted similar models, and Tennessee is already showing positive results for its students.
Predictably, Arnold’s blog reissued the same tired lines about poverty, an argument that ignores teachers’ ability to make a difference. He makes it appear any attempt to elevate the quality of teaching in our schools is an attack on teachers.
Poverty does have an impact, but I believe teachers aren’t helpless in those situations. And the drastic improvements in New Orleans proves poverty can be overcome.
The Recovery School District model is one tool to improve public education in Georgia. Combine that with efforts to improve teacher quality, spend our education dollars on programs that have the biggest impact, and empower parents with choices, and we’ve got a real shot at helping every child get a great teacher and attend a fantastic school.
If we really care about helping our kids succeed, we need to be honest with ourselves about the facts; open-minded to good ideas, even if they come from struggling states; and always making sure that meeting our students’ needs is the primary goal.
