A Race Against Time Recent Titles in CONTEMPORARY STUDIES in SOCIAL and POLICY ISSUES in EDUCATION: the DAVID C

A Race Against Time Recent Titles in CONTEMPORARY STUDIES IN SOCIAL AND POLICY ISSUES IN EDUCATION: THE DAVID C. ANCHIN CENTER SERIES Kathryn M. Borman, Series Editor Implementing Educational Reform: Sociological Perspectives on Educational Policy Kathryn M. Borman, Peter W. Cookson, Jr., Alan Sadovnik, and Jean Spade, editors Maps, Metaphors, and Mirrors: Moral Education in Middle School Carol K. Ingall The Minority Voice in Educational Reform: An Analysis by Minority and Women College of Education Deans Louis A. Castenell and Jill M. Tarule, editors Pathways to Privatization in Education Joseph Murphy, Scott W. Gilmer, Richard Weise, and Ann Page Comparative Higher Education: Knowledge, the University, and Development Philip G. Altbach Building Moral Communities Through Educational Drama Betty Jane Wagner, editor Development of the Social Sciences in the United States and Canada: The Role of Philanthropy Theresa Richardson and Donald Fisher, editors Stories Out of School: Memories and Reflections on Care and Cruelty in the Classroom James L. Paul and Terry Jo Smith, editors Relative/Outsider: The Art and Politics of Identity among Mixed Heritage Students Kendra R. Wallace Rethinking Professional Issues in Special Education James L. Paul, Carolyn D. Lavely, Ann Cranston-Gingras, and Ella L. Taylor, editors Self-Reflective Renewal in Schools: Local Lessons from a National Initiative Bradley S. Portin, Lynn G. Beck, Michael S. Knapp, and Joseph Murphy, editors The Untested Accusation: Principals, Research Knowledge, and Policy Making in Schools Bruce Biddle and Lawrence J. Saha A RACE AGAINST TIME The Crisis in Urban Schooling ᨘᨘᨘ edited by James G. Cibulka William Lowe Boyd CONTEMPORARY STUDIES IN SOCIAL AND POLICY ISSUES IN EDUCATION: THE DAVID C. ANCHIN CENTER SERIES Kathryn M. Borman, Series Editor Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A race against time : the crisis in urban schooling / edited by James G. Cibulka and William Lowe Boyd. p. cm. — (Contemporary studies in social and policy issues in education) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 1-56750-640-2 (alk. paper) 1. Education, Urban—United States. 2. School improvement programs— United States. I. Cibulka, James G. II. Boyd, William Lowe, 1935– III. Series. LC5131 .R33 2003 370′.9173′2—dc21 2002026964 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2003 by James G. Cibulka and William Lowe Boyd All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002026964 ISBN: 1-56750-640-2 First published in 2003 Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.praeger.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984). 10987654321 ᨘᨘᨘ contents Introduction—Urban Education Reform: Competing Approaches James G. Cibulka and William Lowe Boyd vii PART ONE Systems Reforms of Urban School Systems 1 Accountability at the Improv: Brief Sketches of School Reform in Los Angeles 3 Charles Taylor Kerchner and David Menefee-Libey 2 Philadelphia’s Children Achieving Initiative: The Promise and Challenge of Systemic Reform in an Urban School District 23 Jolley Bruce Christman, Tom Corcoran, Ellen Foley, and Theresa Luhm 3 Balancing Autonomy and Control in the New York City Public Schools: Using the Double-ACE Model 45 Bruce S. Cooper and David C. Bloomfield PART TWO Increasing Mayoral Influence over Urban Schools 4 Mayoral Takeover: The Different Directions Taken in Different Cities 63 Michael W. Kirst and Katrina E. Bulkley 5 From Court Street to City Hall: Governance Change in the Boston Public Schools 82 Gary Yee vi Contents 6 Regime Change: Mayoral Takeover of the Chicago Public Schools 106 Dorothy Shipps 7 Implementation of an Accountability Agenda in High Schools: Integrated Governance in the Chicago Public Schools 129 Kenneth K. Wong, Dorothea Anagnostopoulos, Stacey Rutledge, Laurence Lynn, and Robert Dreeben PART THREE External Intervention to Improve Urban School Systems 8 State and Federal Intervention to Improve Baltimore and Washington, D.C.’s Public Schools 167 James G. Cibulka 9 The Role of Sanctions for Improving Persistently Low-Performing Urban Schools: Early Findings of Policy Effects on Teacher Motivation in the Maryland Accountability System 185 Heinrich Mintrop PART FOUR Conclusion 10 Urban Education-Reform Strategies: Comparative Analysis and Conclusions 205 James G. Cibulka and William Lowe Boyd References 225 Index 238 About the Editors and Contributors 245 ᨘᨘᨘ Introduction urban education reform: competing approaches James G. Cibulka William Lowe Boyd The social and economic transformation of large American cities after World War II laid the seeds for the crisis in urban education that has fes- tered and grown since the 1950s. The migration of poor, disadvantaged minorities into the cities and the exodus of businesses, industry, and the middle class to the suburbs set the stage for today’s growing crisis. Decades of appalling test scores and failure rates, and of unsuccessful piecemeal efforts to improve urban education, have led to acute cynicism and despair. What is new today is a growing willingness, on the part of the public and policy-makers, to embrace radical solutions to reform or, indeed, even replace urban school systems (Boyd 2000). Thus, we truly are in a “race against time,” both to save urban children from educational failure and to rescue and reform large urban school systems before peo- ple give up on them. The growing support for radical solutions is exemplified by the increasing African-American support in urban areas for charter schools and voucher plans. Indeed, younger African Americans are increasingly view- ing school choice and vouchers as a “civil rights” issue (Wilgoren 2000), a position articulately championed by the burgeoning Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO). Support for radical solutions is also seen in the mounting calls for states to “breakup” or “takeover” failing urban school systems. Pennsylvania’s takeover of the Philadelphia school system, in December 2001, added “privatization” to these impulses. Governor Schweiker directed the School Reform Commission imposed by the state to “contract out” the management of at least 60 schools in Philadelphia, and to hire the for-profit Edison Schools firm to direct or assist with the overall management of the school system. These radical developments come after two decades of sustained viii Introduction reform efforts that have not produced dramatic improvements, particu- larly in the large urban school systems, which are considered to be the weakest units in American education. Commentators generally agree about three “waves” of school reform that followed the release of the famous A Nation at Risk report in 1983. The first wave to respond to the report’s warning of a “rising tide of mediocrity” in American education was characterized as an “intensification” effort. But steps to increase the intensity and effectiveness of the existing educational system were quickly deemed inadequate. Instead, it was argued that a second wave of reform devoted to a fundamental “restructuring” of American schools was needed to make them more effective. By 1990, however, this piecemeal effort to restructure our schools, one by one, began to be replaced by a third wave’s call for a comprehensive strategy of “systemic reform.” Systemic reformers are trying to maintain the momentum of their wave via the vast accountability movement harnessed to state academic standards and high-stakes testing. But a fourth wave of reform—controversial especially among public educators and their unions—is increasingly growing around the school choice and privatization movement. As long ago as 1988, it was possible to see that a “politics of excellence and choice” was emerging and beginning to transform the American education policy debate (Boyd and Kerchner 1988). Recent developments suggest that, for better or worse, the politics of American education will increasingly revolve around a “politics of reforming or replacing public schools.” The latter strategy, likely to be especially evident in our large cities, reflects the growing desire for quality education and school choice in a less bureau- cratized, more diversified, and competitive delivery system for education (Boyd 2000; Hill and Celio 1998; Hill, Campbell, and Harvey 2000). This book presents case studies and analysis of reform efforts in seven large cities (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Wash- ington, D.C., and New York), plus Michael Kirst and Katrina Bulkley’s dis- cussion of mayoral takeovers and Heinrich Mintrop’s assessment of the role of sanctions in Maryland’s accountability system. The focus here is on three leading approaches to “rescuing” urban school systems: systems reform, increased mayoral influence, and external intervention. Before turning to the organizing framework for this book, in which we describe these approaches and outline their strengths and weaknesses, we should address some of the concerns that may spring to readers’ minds about a book focused on seven case studies and three reform approaches. First, while generalizations are not possible from seven case studies, these are major cities whose reform efforts both

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