Executive Director's Report: Urban school districts are defying the odds

The impact these forces are having on individuals and families’ lives haunt us. But there are also stories of heroism. There were the police officers and firefighters who stayed in New Orleans and the rescue workers who came from all over the country to collect people stranded on rooftops.

From Pakistan, there’s the story of Zakar Hussain, who dug through the rubble of a collapsed school to rescue his daughter and dozens of other students. And there’s the story of a family in Virginia who took in a family from Louisiana for who knows how long.

There are so many stories of neighbors helping neighbors and strangers reaching out to one another.

Across America, many school districts and communities are welcoming hundreds and thousands of schoolchildren and their families displaced by the hurricanes with no questions asked -- except how can we help?

Virtually every state has accepted displaced students, and there has been an outpouring of support to help these children. The school boards associations of Mississippi and Louisiana have set up relief funds, and the Alabama association has created an adopt-a-school program.

Contrast these stories with the political machinations of the Administration and Congress. They are taking advantage of a natural disaster to create a national school voucher program. This is not one of President Bush’s finer moments -- nor of Congress if it goes along with this scheme.

It’s been a time of contrasts. We’ve been inundated with images of despair and hope, poverty and the beneficence of those who feel more privileged.

But now I want to turn our attention to the extraordinary work that urban school districts do every day with the challenges that seem for many to be insurmountable.

It’s again a picture of contrasts: Urban schools are succeeding, despite reports in the press that seek to label them as failing.

The three finalists for the CUBE Award for Urban School Board Excellence, an annual award sponsored by McGraw-Hill Education, have defied the odds. Where the odds against excellence in urban education might seem stacked, the Norfolk, Va.; San Antonio, Texas; and Hillsborough County, Fla., school boards saw the hurdles as benchmarks to achieve and then surpass.

In Norfolk, for example, closing the achievement gap is more than a mandate; it is an obsession. Stephen Jones, the newly appointed superintendent, is the first to admit that his predecessor, John Simpson, and the Norfolk board of education deserve full credit for the district’s success, including the big kahuna, the Broad Foundation’s prize for urban education in September.

But even with the Broad prize, the recognition from CUBE for excellence in governance, and the district’s great community outreach efforts, the district still is struggling to gain community support. “One of the greatest challenges we face is the large number of people in our community who look at the district through a lens that was accurate 10 years ago,” Jones says. “We need more people in our community to understand that things have changed.”

Another challenge is the lack of adequate resources, says school board Chair Theresa Whibley.

Even though the board agreed to shift more than $1 million from the central administration to classroom instruction, the board still needs “to help rally the community around our request for increased financial support,” Whibley says. “We’ve set a target to become a world-class system by 2010.”

Contrasting images -- a school district with low expectations many years ago has become a district with high expectations, not only for its students but for the adults in the system.

The district is now focused on student achievement and connecting to the community. Congratulations, Norfolk.

The San Antonio Independent School District also is a story of contrast. The district has transformed its student achievement results, in large part, because the board of education itself was transformed.

Five years ago, the board was known more for its divisiveness than its effectiveness. Political agendas and special interests made headlines.

Contrast that with today, where the board operates according to the motto, “Seven heartbeats, one heart.” Board of Trustees Chair Julian Trevino says, “You need to create a culture -- focused on a strategic plan and student learning -- where people recognize that the whole is more important than individual members.”

The student population in San Antonio is 86.5 percent Hispanic, 9.3 percent African American, and 3.8 percent white. Ninety percent are below the federal poverty line. San Antonio could have hidden behind traditional excuses. Not this district.

“Teamwork,” Superintendent Ruben Olivarez says, “is when you always recognize the different roles we play. The board governs. I manage. And the staff is the implementation team.”

One successful strategy was to close the middle schools and create a system of K-8 and 9-12 schools. Students in the district’s K-8 schools now outperform their peers in traditional middle schools by as much as 10 to 15 percent.

The district’s investments in early childhood -- currently 4,800 3 and 4-year-olds are being served -- and smaller learning communities also are paying off. The San Antonio school system has grown in 90 percent of the state’s 31 academic achievement indicators compared to 74 percent statewide. The attendance rate is at almost 95 percent, and the annual dropout rate has declined to less than 1 percent. Bravo, San Antonio.

And finally, our big winner is Hillsborough County, where contrasting images form part of the amazing story of success. This district, the ninth largest in the nation, encompasses Tampa and surrounding suburban and rural areas.

The district serves a diverse student population of 192,000, with a poverty rate of 45 percent and 70 languages spoken. The enrollment is 44.6 percent white, 23 percent African American, and 21.5 percent Hispanic, with small numbers of multiracial, Asian, and American Indian students.  

This is a district that is willing to think outside the box. In an interview, board Chair Candy Olson said: “I think for years we tried to do the same thing on the theory that it was fair. For example, most of the highly qualified teachers taught in high-achieving schools.” Sound familiar? That’s changed.

Now there is a salary differential program with veteran teachers who choose to work with high-poverty students earning a 10 percent boost in pay. Teachers who meet federal standards for being “highly qualified” get a 5 percent bump, and teachers who earned the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification get an additional $8,500.

Equity does not mean the same for all. Different populations and different schools need different resources to succeed.

Under a partnership with Hewlett Packard, 357 families received new computers and training, so 2,071 children and 535 adults now can use computers at home.

The Hillsborough County school board has a reputation, and it’s a good one. Two community members interviewed for NSBA’s Urban Advocate commented that board members are very involved in the community. The board listens and responds to local residents.

Mark Griffin, a local business leader, calls the board’s actions shared governance with all of its constituencies. This takes time, and the seven board members know it.

But community engagement helps board members focus on student achievement and deal with the district’s explosive growth -- about 6,000 new students every year -- in a state where there is a mandated small class size and lower student-teacher ratios.

A world of contrasts. These school districts all prove that even though we live in a world where there is abundant wealth and much poverty, and where too many people have low expectations, schools can become places where the adults in the system have high aspirations for every child and there can be excellence for all.