Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso is asking private foundations for $25 million to jump-start a stalled reform effort by creating two dozen combined middle/high schools that would operate with outside partnerships and autonomy from central headquarters.
In a confidential presentation to philanthropists that was obtained by The Sun, Alonso says that thousands of city students - including many who are overage and many interested in vocational programs - aren't getting the opportunities they need in existing schools. Some of the schools he proposes would be college-prep, while others would prepare students directly for the work force.
"This is really an attempt to change the DNA of the secondary schools," Alonso said after being told the newspaper had a copy of his presentation. "A school system like this needs to be extremely bold, or the forces of inertia will bring things back to the way they have been."
The presentation begins with dismal statistics about the current state of affairs: "What is the future of Baltimore if ... Only 5 out of 10 students entering our high schools leave with a high school diploma? Fewer than 3 of those students enroll in college? Fewer than 2 of those students graduate from college within 5 years?"
Alonso's request comes as the Urban Institute releases a study today with promising findings about the city's six new "innovation" high schools. The innovation schools have much in common with the schools Alonso is proposing, operating with autonomy under partnerships with organizations such as universities and school management companies.
The study, based on five years of data, shows innovation schools as the bright spots in a major high school reform initiative that overall has fallen short of expectations. The Urban Institute, a national nonpartisan think tank, was hired to evaluate Baltimore's high school reform.
Launched with great fanfare in 2002, the reform effort has stalled in recent years as the largest donor, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, put a freeze on its funding because of concerns about administrative turnover.
Because of the freeze and other problems, four large campuses that were supposed to be broken up into smaller schools remain intact. Some of the small neighborhood high schools that were created are far more crowded than intended. And the innovation schools, while able to control their hiring and curriculum, have not received the budgetary control they were promised.
