Governor Phil Bryant and Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba were wise in partnering to avoid a state takeover of Jackson Public Schools, considering there is no evidence that such aggressive action would result in meaningful improvements for the district’s 27,000 children and their families.
Since the early 1990s, the State of Mississippi has taken control of sixteen school districts, some of them more than once, all of which exist in communities with high poverty and high percentages of African American children. The Hechinger Report examined five of the sixteen districts for which multi-year data were available and found results to be erratic, with none of the districts having experienced sustained improvement. Interviews with conservators who were appointed to lead the troubled school systems suggest that improvements may occur in administrative and financial management functions, but there is little to no positive change in instructional practices or educational outcomes.
It is past time for a new approach to improving low-performing schools. Top-down approaches that marginalize communities and minimize local voices are ineffective at generating the support needed to bring about lasting and meaningful change. For the resulting diminished morale of school personnel, disenfranchisement of those most impacted, and fractured relationships between local and state leaders, state intervention does little to affect the things that matter most to families and communities….the quality of their children’s education.
The Institute for Education Law and Policy at Rutgers University analyzed state takeovers of local school districts in 50-State Report on Accountability, State Intervention and Takeover and concluded, “For the most part, [state takeovers] seem to be yielding more gains in central office activities than in classroom instructional practices.” According to the report, state takeovers “place poorly prepared state-selected officials in charge, with little possibility of any meaningful change occurring in the classroom.”
A 2015 report by the Southern Education Foundation (SEF) and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University concluded the following:
State control over public schools or school districts is not new. Individual schools, or entire districts… have been seized by state education departments for financial reasons, academic performance, or both. Despite more than two decades of state takeovers, these schools and districts have shown little improvement.
But what are state leaders to do in the face of a responsibility to enact policies that drive improved educational outcomes in their most troubled schools? The SEF/Annenberg Institute report yielded three conclusions relative to turning around the lowest-performing schools:
- There should be a focus on strategies that directly address the quality of teaching and the atmosphere inside the school. External governance change will not, in and of itself, change student outcomes.
- Reform should identify the specific challenges and needs of educators, students, and their families, and address these challenges directly.
- Effective school reform isn’t done to communities, parents, students, educators, and administrators. It is done with them. Top-down mandates, school takeovers, external corporate operators—these strategies have not proven successful in building high quality public education.
Recently, new conceptions of school reform have been emerging (Booth & Ainscow, 2011; McCart & Sailor, 2014). Re-casting education through an equity lens as the schoolwide application of research-validated practices based on demonstrated student need allows reformers to prioritize individual student strengths above the limitations that traditional learning environments produce. Organizing schools around multi-tiered systems of academic and behavioral support (MTSS) with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practices present throughout every level of support provides a structure within which instruction, participation, and progress are accessible to virtually all students.
Local communities care deeply about their schools and local educators sincerely want to provide a high-quality education for all children under their care. Communities and schools need evidence-based tools and support to engage stakeholders, use data for ongoing analysis and decision-making, set priorities, develop and implement improvement plans while building capacity at all levels to support reforms. The tools already exist and we know how to support educators and communities in a way that brings about sustained positive school change. The question is whether the 15 appointed members of the commission will embrace innovative reforms that change the learning outcomes…and life trajectory…of children in the City of Jackson.
By Dr. Melody Musgrove