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April 20, 2008
Changing Traditional Schools: Impossible, Or....
Many have noted the near impossibility of changing district schools. Many have tried. Billions (literally) have been spent on the effort. Despite small and temporary changes, there is virtually nothing to show for the exertion in the past 100 years. That's why alternatives, charters, vouchers and other choice programs have arisen--or an institutional bypass, if you will.
Now, Boston with $400,000 of foundation support will expand their Pilot Schools program by reducing regulations on another series of schools. Schools will be freer to make program changes, alter staffing configuration, control staffing and determine budget allocations. This move long known in the trade as site based decision making often ends up as a tepid non-event because central offices (and often unions) will not support delegation of authority to that degree.
The only hope for new kinds of schools lies with alternatives of various kinds. However, a full blown program of the type Boston proposes has possibilities of bringing reform into a school district. Time will tell whether the bureaucracy smothers another reform.
Posted by Wayne Jennings at April 20, 2008 02:17 PM
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