Eighty-eight Washington DC (US) schools that failed to meet standards for annual yearly progress will be targets for intervention, according to a story by V. Dion Haynes in the Post.
For most schools on the list, the intervention will consist largely of coaching by teams of outside education experts, such as university professors, or teachers from successful schools in the system. But 16 schools that have failed to show adequate progress for three or four consecutive years will be subject to staff replacements and takeover by an outside management company, officials said, although the specific action to be taken at each school has not been determined.
Regardless of whether the intervention will provide coaching or new management, I have to wonder what the schools will do. Will the coaches direct teachers to use effective practices? Will the new management teams require adoption of curricular materials that have a record for promoting students’ success? Will the coaches and managers decide whether their reforms are working on the basis of students’ outcomes?
If there’s someone interested in a research project, these schools (and others around the US that are in similar situations) provide a wonderful opportunity to examine the effects of reform efforts. It doesn’t have to be a political study; one could simply characterize the changes along a few dimensions—curricula selected, staff development provided, structural change (e.g., class size), etc.—and monitor students’ achievement and behavior longitudinally. The schools would almost certainly sort themselves into comparison groups.
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