By Omar Lopez, DFER Policy Analyst
Chancellor Dennis Walcott
Chancellor Dennis Walcott recently made his first policy speech as Chancellor at the New York University Steinhardt School, and raised some key issues about how to improve schools where students have shown the least progress in recent years.
He started off by giving some statistics about how most New York City Public Schools have been improving. He pointed to higher graduation rates, more kids taking the SAT, and more kids going to college. Next, he discussed the challenges that have existed, primarily budget issues and the thirty-three most struggling schools in the city. As a solution to these problems, the Chancellor pointed to the opening of more schools (both district and charter) and the phasing in of the common core standards.
The majority of the Chancellor’s speech, however, was focused on middle schools. The statistics are stark, highlighting the drop that occurs after 5th and 6th grade. While students across the entire system have been improving since 2002, 7th and 8th grade students have actually gone backward.
As the Chancellor points out, middle schools are in decline. According to “Stuck in the Middle,” a 2010 look at middle schools by Education Next, “At least part of the problem with middle schools may be that they usually combine students from multiple elementary schools.” On every metric, the article reports, middle schoolers show a decline in performance after they enter the 6th grade. Moreover, the absence rate for students increases in middle school with every grade after fifth.
Given these numbers, there are schools that are functioning at a high level. The Chancellor highlighted five strategies that the most successful middle schools utilize.
These are:
1) A robust literacy program;2) Stable, high quality leadership;3) Teams of teachers working together for a shared group of students;4) A strong culture of discipline and academic routine;5) A close relationship with students and working in partnership with families.
In terms of replicating success, the Chancellor and his team have a four-prong strategy:
1) Open New Schools: Based on the idea that families should have choices in their children’s education, Chancellor Walcott will be opening 50 new middle schools in the next two years. These would be a mix of public charter and traditional public schools. He also noted that charter middle schools were outperforming traditional district schools;2) Foment Leadership and Talent: A school is only as strong as its staff and leadership, so the Chancellor wants to focus on hiring and developing strong principals, assistant principals, and teachers. Moreover, a new class of New York Teaching Fellows will be trained to work specifically in disadvantaged middle schools;3) Turn around/phase out poor performing schools: Chancellor Walcott also indicated he would use the federal turnaround model to shake up schools by reassigning at least half of the staff. The process will be implemented in five schools in the 2012-13 school year and five more the year after;