Urban Education

The linings in the dark clouds over urban education are showing flashes of silver.In Baltimore, they are barely visible, but they are there. Reading scores in the early grades are inching up -- as they have been for a while in many other big city systems -- as educators concentrate on instruction, blotting out distractions.But there are no miracles here, and Baltimore is behind similar districts with large concentrations of poverty.Still, the modest increases announced this week in the city's first- and second-grade standardized test scores bode well.

Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso's resignation at the end of this academic year is a major blow to a city whose trajectory he helped change. There can be little doubt that the energetic and rapid reforms he implemented in the city's long-struggling school system have set the stage for broader renewal and growth in Baltimore. But city leaders also need to look on his departure as a tremendous opportunity, a chance to bring in a new superintendent who will build on Mr. Alonso's successes.

WASHINGTON -- With time for achievements dwindling, President Bush unveiled proposals for urban education and assistance to military families during his final State of the Union address last night, and he urged Congress to complete "unfinished business," including war funding and the fight against terrorism. Bush said he wants to spend $300 million on grants for children to attend parochial and private schools in cities where public schools are failing, one of a handful of new proposals he outlined last night.

Many presidents and politicians have claimed education as their first priority over the past 40 years. They signed legislation and threw money at public schools — pushing per-pupil spending from about $4,000 in 1971 (in inflation-adjusted dollars) to more than $9,000 today, as student achievement stagnated. How could we spend so much for so little, dooming millions of children to "dropout factories" and diminished lives? That question drives "Waiting for Superman," a documentary by Davis Guggenheim of "An Inconvenient Truth" fame.

POVERTY IS a hindrance to school achievement."Thanks," you say cynically. "Tell me something else I didn't know."Clarence N. Stone, however, thinks it's necessary to repeat the truism for the benefit of Montgomery County.Again this year, the wealthiest school district this side of the Bay Bridge is playing Blame That Victim in the General Assembly. The victim is Baltimore.Stone knows what he's talking about. A professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, he heads an 11-city study, "Civic Capacity and Urban Education," financed by the National Science Foundation.

Laurie Namey and Patricia "Brigid" Carmichael have about 40 years experience in education between them. Their experience in education has taught them that there is a lot more to educating a child than academics. For starters, children need character education, Namey said. "Character education is a necessity in our ever-changing, diverse community," said Namey, who is in her first year as assistant principal at Edgewood Middle School. "Schools need to make character education important."

Loyola University is launching a new school of education that will focus on solving problems in urban schools and on forging practical relationships between the university and Baltimore's public school system. The school, which Loyola will dedicate at a ceremony this evening, will house a research center dedicated to innovation in urban education. University officials hope the center will attract top-notch faculty and students with an interest in making practical improvements to Baltimore schools, said Peter Murrell, dean of the school of education.

Eugene M. Lang talks about his "dreamers" as though they are members of his family, and in a sense they are.In 1981, when the industrialist was invited to address the sixth-graders at his old elementary school in East Harlem, he impulsively announced he would pay for their schooling through college if they would stay in school and keep their grades up. Lang surprised even himself with the announcement."

The Baltimore Sun continues to make a unique contribution to the regional community by highlighting important stories that would not appear elsewhere. The story "Poly and City under scrutiny" (Aug. 22) is an excellent example. Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Baltimore City College are storied examples of just how good urban education can be. Comparing each school's recent performance with that of two and three years back yielded a wake-up call for city educators that they seem to have heard well.

The problems of urban education are rooted in poverty and the racial divide. No big-city school system has solved them. The No Child Left Behind law won't solve them. The best that school systems can do is work around the edges to mitigate the consequences of this uniquely American reality. The Baltimore school board may have taken a step in that direction Monday night with its sweeping reorganization - which amounts to a significant, albeit limited, decentralization - but it will work only if all concerned act intelligently, cooperatively and diligently.

The Baltimore Sun continues to make a unique contribution to the regional community by highlighting important stories that would not appear elsewhere. The story "Poly and City under scrutiny" (Aug. 22) is an excellent example. Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Baltimore City College are storied examples of just how good urban education can be. Comparing each school's recent performance with that of two and three years back yielded a wake-up call for city educators that they seem to have heard well.

Loyola University is launching a new school of education that will focus on solving problems in urban schools and on forging practical relationships between the university and Baltimore's public school system. The school, which Loyola will dedicate at a ceremony this evening, will house a research center dedicated to innovation in urban education. University officials hope the center will attract top-notch faculty and students with an interest in making practical improvements to Baltimore schools, said Peter Murrell, dean of the school of education.

Laurie Namey and Patricia "Brigid" Carmichael have about 40 years experience in education between them. Their experience in education has taught them that there is a lot more to educating a child than academics. For starters, children need character education, Namey said. "Character education is a necessity in our ever-changing, diverse community," said Namey, who is in her first year as assistant principal at Edgewood Middle School. "Schools need to make character education important."

Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond were already steeped in the reality of urban education long before they came to Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High School in 2004 to film Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card. Their 1993 HBO film, I am a Promise: The Children on Stanton Elementary Schoo l, a searing look at life in a troubled Philadelphia institution, won Oscar, Emmy, Peabody and Robert F. Kennedy awards - as clean a sweep as any American documentary has ever enjoyed.

WASHINGTON -- With time for achievements dwindling, President Bush unveiled proposals for urban education and assistance to military families during his final State of the Union address last night, and he urged Congress to complete "unfinished business," including war funding and the fight against terrorism. Bush said he wants to spend $300 million on grants for children to attend parochial and private schools in cities where public schools are failing, one of a handful of new proposals he outlined last night.

Finding new options for urban education Baltimore spends more than $10,000 per student each year on education. For Kalman R. Hettleman to suggest that even more money is needed is preposterous ("Don't deny state's kids a quality education," Opinion Commentary, Oct. 28). The level of funding is adequate, and children around the globe receive a quality education for much less money. As a society, we need to accept that far too many children grow up in dangerous and violent communities, with uncaring parents numbed by generations of welfare dependency, and that this has had an enormous negative effect on public education.

Filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond were already steeped in the reality of urban education long before they came to Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High School in 2004 to film Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card. Their 1993 HBO film, I am a Promise: The Children on Stanton Elementary Schoo l, a searing look at life in a troubled Philadelphia institution, won Oscar, Emmy, Peabody and Robert F. Kennedy awards - as clean a sweep as any American documentary has ever enjoyed.

PHILADELPHIA -- I found it interesting that Maryland schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick suggested that the Baltimore school system be run by a court-appointed trustee. What caught my eye most was Ms. Grasmick's statement that Mayor Martin O'Malley has become too involved in running the school system. Her strong stand against mayoral involvement in city schools has me wondering: Why would she ignore roughly 20 years of proven models for successful urban education reform? A history review since the 1980s shows that successful urban education reform is directly linked to the ability to engage the city's mayor as a true partner in that reform.

The problems of urban education are rooted in poverty and the racial divide. No big-city school system has solved them. The No Child Left Behind law won't solve them. The best that school systems can do is work around the edges to mitigate the consequences of this uniquely American reality. The Baltimore school board may have taken a step in that direction Monday night with its sweeping reorganization - which amounts to a significant, albeit limited, decentralization - but it will work only if all concerned act intelligently, cooperatively and diligently.

PHILADELPHIA -- I found it interesting that Maryland schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick suggested that the Baltimore school system be run by a court-appointed trustee. What caught my eye most was Ms. Grasmick's statement that Mayor Martin O'Malley has become too involved in running the school system. Her strong stand against mayoral involvement in city schools has me wondering: Why would she ignore roughly 20 years of proven models for successful urban education reform? A history review since the 1980s shows that successful urban education reform is directly linked to the ability to engage the city's mayor as a true partner in that reform.