School Reform

In their commentary ("Six steps for post-Alonso school reform," May 14), Thomas Wilcox, Diane Bell-McKoy and Laura Gamble use many lofty and idealistic sounding words to promote their vision. However, it bears noting that education "reformers" are well-versed in using terms that have an appeal, yet bear little substance. It's part of the script to sell the public on a model for education that actually requires a deeper analysis and understanding. Words like "choice" and "accountability" have done for the corporate-model of education reform what buzz words like "whole grain" and "real fruit juice" have done for the food processing industry.

In their commentary ("Six steps for post-Alonso school reform," May 14), Thomas Wilcox, Diane Bell-McKoy and Laura Gamble use many lofty and idealistic sounding words to promote their vision. However, it bears noting that education "reformers" are well-versed in using terms that have an appeal, yet bear little substance. It's part of the script to sell the public on a model for education that actually requires a deeper analysis and understanding. Words like "choice" and "accountability" have done for the corporate-model of education reform what buzz words like "whole grain" and "real fruit juice" have done for the food processing industry.

The prescription developer David Tufaro writes for those interested in serving as Baltimore's mayor is based, in part, on an outdated diagnosis of public education options available in city schools ( "A reform agenda for Baltimore's next mayor," Dec. 27). Mr. Tufaro's view that education reform in Baltimore is incremental suggests that he has missed dramatic, positive developments in city schools since leaving the Maryland State Board of Education in 2008. City schools CEO Andrés Alonso and the Baltimore Board of School Commissioners, with steady and strong support from City Hall and Annapolis, have fundamentally changed what it means to be a student, parent, teacher or principal in city schools.

With city schools CEO Andrés Alonso's announcement last week that he is stepping down at the end of this school year, Baltimore finds itself in the market for a new leader who can continue and expand upon the reforms he instituted. Whoever succeeds Mr. Alonso will have a hard act to follow, and finding a replacement who possesses the right combination of leadership, management and interpersonal skills won't be easy. That's why the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners must insist on conducting a thorough, nationwide search for the city's next schools CEO and resist pressures from some city leaders to short-circuit the process by rushing to name a successor.

The recent article "Several senators oppose Grasmick's school reform" (Jan. 22) appearing as it did one day after The Sun's front page article headlined "O'Malley plans fund shift to sidestep service cuts" (Jan. 21) underscores the challenge that Maryland legislators face in squaring inherently political concerns with the need to adjust to today's fiscal realities. In plain English, should our legislative leaders tend to the political interests of an important constituency, the teachers' union, or should they make a serious play for the hundreds of millions of education dollars on offer through the federal Race to the Top program?

Erica L. Green's article, "City gets 'C' on school reform" (Aug. 25) cites a study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, identifying that organization as a "nonprofit organization that conducts research in elementary and secondary education reform…". That's like saying a report by the Republican Party, a non-profit organization, has been critical of Governor Martin O'Malley. The article should have said that the Fordham Institute is a right-wing organization tied to charter schools and anti-union activities.

With city schools CEO Andrés Alonso's announcement last week that he is stepping down at the end of this school year, Baltimore finds itself in the market for a new leader who can continue and expand upon the reforms he instituted. Whoever succeeds Mr. Alonso will have a hard act to follow, and finding a replacement who possesses the right combination of leadership, management and interpersonal skills won't be easy. That's why the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners must insist on conducting a thorough, nationwide search for the city's next schools CEO and resist pressures from some city leaders to short-circuit the process by rushing to name a successor.

Kudos to the Sun for its thoughtful editorial on May 7 recognizing the vital importance of quality early childhood programs and pre-K in closing achievement gaps and imparting lifelong benefits to children ("Excellence at early age"). A mountain of research, notably the Perry Pre-School study and Chicago Child Parent Centers study, document that these investments save governments enormous costs in the form of reduced incarceration, less need for special education, smaller public assistance rolls and improved high school graduation rates.

A year ago, candidate Parris N. Glendening typically hedged when asked whether he supported Maryland's ambitious public school reform effort. Having won office and taken stock of the state of education in Maryland, he has now signed on. At a press conference last week, he announced his own education initiatives and put his stamp on the reform process.There will be some new money, including $10 million to be proposed in the fiscal 1997 budget to reward schools that show improvements in student performance.

Ask virtually anyone in the country to name the leading states in school reform, and Maryland will be on the short list. Many people can take credit for the remarkable progress the state has made in setting clear, albeit difficult, goals and in moving steadily toward them.Even so, it is undeniable that without the tenacity and unwavering vision of state Schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick the reform effort would have stalled at several politically rocky points. By insisting day in and day out that the goal of education reform is to improve the lives of children -- not teachers, principals, parents or bureaucrats -- she has kept the state on a steady course.

My first question after reading about seven teachers in an Atlanta, Ga., public school accused of altering standardized test scores to make it appear students performed better than they actually did was: How could they!? The seven were nicknamed "the chosen" and, according to Georgia state investigator Richard Hyde, the less than magnificent seven sat in a locked room without windows, erasing wrong answers and inserting correct ones. It's one thing for a child to cheat on a test; it's quite another for teachers to do it. Compounding the cheating scandal is that the children in this elementary school are mostly poor and African-American.

Because Baltimore City has long struggled to correct the problems of its chronically underperforming school system, Maryland has for decades funded education in the city at a higher level than other jurisdictions. That is why a preliminary audit report detailing evidence of waste, fraud and abuse in the system represents a potentially devastating indictment of the city's school reform effort. If allegations of mismanagement, lax oversight and incompetence lead lawmakers in Annapolis to question the city's use of the public funds it receives, support for school reform here could dry up overnight.

The Windy City is engulfed in a stormy teachers' strike that has gathered front-page national attention. But will it turn out to be just more hot air in the national debate over school reform? I'm afraid so, even though the issues at stake in Chicago are not irrelevant. First, it's noteworthy that the stumbling block is not teacher pay. That's a vital lesson: We must work harder to understand other factors that count more in the all-important recruitment and retention of good teachers.

The union representing Chicago's 26,000 teachers and support staff says its members are prepared to stay on strike as long as it takes to get an acceptable contract. That's put Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a tough position as he tries to push reforms both he and the Obama administration believe are crucial to improving education for Chicago's 350,000 public school students. The city has already proposed boosting teachers' pay by 16 percent over the next four years, along with other concessions, despite a severe fiscal crunch.

At a time when Baltimore City agencies are under scrutiny regarding the wise use of taxpayer dollars, you'd think top school administrators would think twice before racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable expenses on their department-issued credit cards. But apparently some educators still don't get it. The fact that they could even contemplate lavishing large sums on meals, hotels and out-of-town trips suggests just how out of touch they must seem to ordinary city residents.

The results of this year's Maryland School Assessments test, which show Baltimore City schools making only marginal progress on standardized test scores over last year, are troubling because they seem to suggest that the ambitious reforms begun five years ago by schools CEO Andrés Alonso may be running out of steam. The percentage of city students scoring proficient or better in reading and math is almost unchanged over last year, when the district saw its first decline since 2007.

The announcement this week that the U.S. Department of Education will grant Maryland a waiver from some of the more onerous requirements of the decade-old federal No Child Left Behind Act is welcome news for the state's school reform effort. It means Maryland will be free to set more reasonable goals for student achievement levels and adopt reforms that are necessary to close the gap between its lowest- and highest-performing schools and school districts. Maryland needs a more rational and balanced approach to measuring educational progress, and now it can create one without having to wait for lawmakers in Washington to act. The decade-old NCLB law, passed by Congress with broad bipartisan support, was the signature education initiative of the Bush administrationt.

The push for adding elected members to Baltimore County's school board gained steam in the last few years for a good reason. Parents complained, with some justification, that Superintendent Joe A. Hairston was insufficiently responsive to their concerns. And when they sought redress for their grievances - whether it was over the issue of air conditioning at Ridgely Middle School, the canceling of PTA craft fairs or his order that the district use a time-consuming, proprietary grading system developed by his top deputy - they got little support from the all-appointed school board.