DOCUMENT RESUME ED 373 129 UD 030 025 AUTHOR Kirshstein, Rita; And Others TITLE Years Two and Three of the Chelsea-BU Partnership: A Story of Survival. INSTITUTION Pelavin Associates, Inc., Washington, DC. SPONS AGENCY Department of Education, Washington, DC. Office of the Under Secretary. PUB DATE 94 NOTE 117p.; For related documents, see ED 338 748 and ED 339 776. PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *College School Cooperation; Dropout Prevention; Educational Change; *Educational Improvement; *Educational Quality; Elementary Secondary Education; Financial Exigency; Governance; Higher Education; *Partnerships in Education; *Program Evaluation; Shared Resources and Services; *Student Improvement; Test Score Decline; Urban Schools IDENTIFIERS Boston University MA; *Chelsea School System MA ABSTRACT This report examines the second and third years of the Chelsea-Boston University (BU) partnership in which BU manages the Chelsea, Massachusetts, school system. The report summarizes the activities of the partnership (begun in 1989), examines the impact of key players and events, and evaluates BU's impact on Chelsea to date. The partnership's success has been mixed. One of BU's most notable achievements is reducing the dropout rate among Chelsea high school students. Considerable attention and activity was paid to the areas of professional development and salary increases for teachers and Chelsea staff, although more professional development opportunities and further salary increases are deemed necessary. Despite these successes, however, almost across the board, student test scoreshave actually declined since BU's arrival in Chelsea. The fiscal crisis of 1991 severely reduced Chelsea's budget as specified in the original agreement, forcing BU into a crisis-management situation while it tried to provide more with less. Ultimately, the Chelsea-BU partnership's success will be measured on the ability of the Chelesa community to administer its own schools. BU's ability to mentor community leaders could prove to be the single most important factor determining the project's long-term impact. The appendix provides a list of persons interviewed during site visits in the second and third years. (Contains four references.) (GLR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. * *********************************************************************** YEARS TWO AND THREE OF THE CHELSEA-BU PARTNERSHIP: A STORY OF SURVIVAL OF EDUCATION S DEPARTMENT !1". RESOURCES INFORMATION EDUCATIONAL CENTER ;ERIC' been reproduced as This deConleol has received from Me personor organization ougmMing been made to Mihor change!, have improve reproductionduatily hlated fl this Points of view or oeinalM documenl de nmnecessarily represent official OEM positionor poircy "\) PELAVIN ASSOCIATES, INC. 2030 M Street, N.W., Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OFFICE OF ME UNDER SECRETARY 2 BEST COPYAVAILABLE I I I Years Two and Three of 1 The Chelsea-BU Partnership: I A Story of Survival I I I Rita Kirshstein I Diane Pelavin Nancy Matheson I Alison Reeve I I 1994 I I Prepared Under Contract by: I PELAVIN ASSOCIATES, INC. I 2030 M Street, N.W., Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 I I I The views expressed in this report, developed under contract to the U.S. Departmelt of Education, do not nece=ffly reflect the position or policy of the Department, and no official endorsement by the Department should be inferred. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Three years after entering into an agreement with Chelsea,Massachusetts to manage the beleaguered city's school system, Boston University (BU) submittedits fust progress report to the Massachusetts State Legislature in September 1992. This report drew aflurry of newspaper articles decrying BU's failure to "deliver on its promises" toimprove the education of Chelsea students. The national attention that this report attracted attests to thesustained interest of the broader educational and policy communities in the Chelsea-BU schoolreform experiment. This interest derives from a number of sources: The concept of a university-school partnership. A privateuniversity managing a public school system is an intriguing concept for two distinct reasons:(1) American schools traditionally are run by locally elected orappointed school boards because it is assumed that representatives from a community canbest determine the needs and interests of that community; and (2)universities are generally perceived to be producers of knowledge, not administratorsinvolved in the translation of knowledge into practice. A comprehensive education reform approach. BU's approach toeducational reform in Chelsea is comprehensive; it addresses social service needs,physical and mental health issues, early childhood education, before- and after-school care,and adult education, in addition to the more traditional issues of K through12 education. TheapLugshammieserwigpol .Several engaging personalities have attracted considerable media attention since the beginning of the project.These include John Silber, President of Boston University; Diana Lam, Superintendentof the Chelsea schools for the fust two years of the partnership; and PeterGreer, Chair of the Management Team for the initial two years of the project andSuperintendent ad interim for the third year. Thesf& f m 'aelslj._meLUr.dj,igmg_.gs10nnri nn a school system. The Chelsea community and the schools have weathered a number of internal andexternal crises that have threatened the survival of the project. Most significant among these art: The firing of Chelsea teachers and administrators. As a result of alarge budget deficit, numerous administrative positions within the school system were eliminated in April 1991, including theDirectors of Bilingual Education, Human Services, Special Education, and Guidance. Due to continued fiscal crises and an inability to reach an agreement with the Chelsea Teachers' Union regarding the date by which teachers needed to be notified of future employment, 0 Chelsea teachers were fired in June 1991. Only 187 out of 245 teachers were reinstated, late in August,for the beginning of the new school year. Receivership. Severe fmancial problems in the city resulted in Chelsea going into state receivership in September 1991, the beginning of the third year of the partnership. Turnover among superintendents. Considerable turnover among superintendents has plagued the project. The sudden departure of a generally popular superintendent at the end of the second year of the agreement was followed by the departure of her somewhat controversial ad interim replacement at the end of the third year and his subsequent replacement by a superintendent with little experience in urban school settings. Thus to understand the Chelsea-BU partnership requires not only an account of new programs implemented under the banner of schoolreform but also an understanding of the unique governance structures mandated by the legislation, thepowerful personalities who have been involved in the Chelsea effort, and the fiscal and personnel crises weathered by the project. This report summarizes the activities of the partnership in its second and third years,examines the impact of key players and events, and evaluates BU's impact on Chelsea to date. Programs and Activities Several innovative programs have been initiated by BU since the onset of the partnership. Key programs in the second and third years include: A "showcase" early childhood education oroaram provides learning opportunities to many of Chelsea's three- and four-year-olds. The Early LearningCenter, located on the campus of one of Chelsea's elementary schools, includesbilingual classrooms and extended day programs. The Center served approximately 200 preschool children in 1991-92. The early childhood program also incorporates several innovative home-learning and intergenerational learning projects. Several holiksj. have been introduced through the schools. A health clinic at the high school is staffed by a nurse practitioner and provides health services to many, often uninsured, students who would not othenvise have access to such services. Additionally, a dental program has been established to screen kindergarten through eighth-grade students for dental problems. An extensive and comprehensive rQusic program has been introduced throughout the school system, providing Chelsea students not only with coherent music instruction but also with a program that, somewhat controversially, is intended to foster cooperative learning, competition, self-discipline, and increased self-esteem and responsibility. A number of different dropout prevention activities have been implemented since BU arrived on the scene in Chelsea.These include:(1) the Pathway School, a program funded by the 1UR Nabisco Foundation to provide an alternative school for students who either have already dropped out of school or are at-risk of doing so; (2) tracking and monitoring activities that identify chronically absent students and notify parents when their children miss five consecutive days of school; (3) Dreams and Plans, a crisis intervention and prevention program that aims to keep students in school by averting potential crises; and (4) the Digital Mentoring Program, a rnentoring program that pairs Chelsea students with employees of the Digital Corporation. Additionally, BU has devoted considerable energy to numerous professional development activities benefitting Chelsea staff. BU also secured