Fast Report

02/07 -- No extra gains for privately managed schools

• Students who attended privately managed public schools in Philadelphia did no better academically than students in regular public schools, reports a study released Feb. 1 by the RAND Corp. and Research for Action.

Students across Philadelphia made significant academic gains from 2002 to 2006, but researchers found, “private managers who were given extra funds to run 45 elementary and middle schools did not achieve additional gains exceeding districtwide trends.”

Another group of schools that were “restructured” did show significant gains in math in the first three years studied and in reading the first year. These schools remained under district management and were given more resources and intensive intervention.

Philadelphia is the site of the largest experiment in the private management of public schools in the United States. In 2002, the state of Pennsylvania launched a takeover of the 200,000-pupil district, and seven different private managers -- including the for-profit Edison Schools Inc., local nonprofits, and two local universities -- were put in charge of the district’s lowest-achieving schools.

D.C. school board offers school reform plan

• The District of Columbia Board of Education announced a school reform plan Jan. 29 as an alternative to Mayor Adrian Fenty’s proposal to take control of the school system.

The school board’s reform plan, the Student Achievement Emergency Act of 2007, would allow the board to retain control over the budget and school construction; call for $10 million for increased special education services; give the superintendent more control over collective bargaining and more flexibility on teacher pay; and give the board more authority over the procurement process to speed up renovations. The board’s plan would create a new state department of education to be headed by the deputy mayor.

Unlike the mayor’s plan, the board’s proposal includes several provisions aimed at improving student achievement. Among its goals: Ten percent more D.C. students will score at the “proficient” or “advanced” level, and D.C. public schools will outperform large cities nationwide on test results.

The board also wants to replace administrators and faculty at five chronically underperforming schools, build eight new schools, and create a new position of parent ombudsman to trace how the school system responds to parent requests.

The steering committee of the Council of Urban Boards of Education, a component of NSBA’s National Affiliate program, voted Jan. 28 to oppose the mayoral takeover.

Feds deny Virginia’s plan for testing ELLs

• The U.S. Education Department will not allow Virginia school districts to use an alternative reading/language arts assessment for English language learners (ELLs) under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Several Virginia school boards, including those representing the city of Harrisonburg and the counties of Fairfax, Frederick, and Prince William, have passed resolutions condemning federal rules requiring ELLs to be tested in English.

“We don’t know of any school districts that are not in compliance” with the federal rules, since “testing won’t occur for another month or so,” said Charles Pyle, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Instruction.